Khandala Tunnel Tops – Revisited!

You know what this is, I just find the massive size a little hard to believe.

Another view of the Ventilation shaft – looking up through the grill.

A view of the tunnel – you are warned NOT to go into this tunnel if you are even mildly claustrophobic. There are very few places I know of that match the sheer remoteness and the horror value of this tunnel.

The Distant Up signal of Khandala inside the 25C. Note the store inside the tunnel with sleepers and other track material – such caches are available regularly through the tunnel. They also serve as convenient refuges when a train comes along.

Was I glad to leave the 25C ? I do not have an honest answer ! We met the 6529 Udyan Express with a long hood WDP 4 at the head and two WCG 2s at the rear deep inside the tunnel. As the train speeded past, I locked eyes with just one passenger who could n

The 25C was completed only in 1982.

Yet another mission objective – to trace the path of the railway line during the days while the reversing station was being used. The track would take the path of the present day expressway and enter the Khandala station area along the bank of the water

The exit of the old permanent way is way too high from the level of the current railway lines, wonder why ? We guessed that this is caused by either the railways blocking the path by raising a mud bund or due to natural mud/stone slides caused by so many

As we wait for our train, a freighter arrives with WCG 2 # 20140 in charge.

The load is just four brake vans ! The two WCG 2 bankers are 20117 and 20138. We have seen similar ‘only brake van’ trains on two other occasion in the area before. So while both the descending as well as climbing trains lack brake vans, why are climb

The short train powers through pf 1 of Khandala towards the last tunnel located just past the station.

By the time I react to the 1029 Koyna Express rolling in, the loco had already climbed into the level section of the platform 1. My initial view was just the headlamps peeking from the steep gradient after the platforms.

The Koyna Express is popular with passengers as it one of the few climbing trains that actually stops at Khandala. The (unauthorized) vendors prepare to board this train, only to be caught by an RPF team, who rounded them and detained all of them at Lonav

The WCG 2 # 20135 hauls in the Koyna Express. The entire round trip to Khandala and back cost us Rs. 130 per head.

Something Ashish noticed during the stop of the Koyna at Chichwad – a GIPR age water tank manufactured by “AFCoLt” during 1996 – which was this company, Saif ?

Qeustion: What has this picture got to do with the railways ? Answer: At a casual glance, this is how the first ventilation shaft (from Mumbai side) of the Tunnel 25C looks like.

Ashish fights the vines and other fauna to descend into the depression holding the first ventilation shaft of the tunnel 25C.