Neral Matheran line Monsoon Damage Photos by Pawan Koppa

A signal at "Go" stands on the hillock to the right. A really amazing place to put up a signal!!

The four muketeers!! Me, Debu, Sameer and Sandeep after trekking 2.5 kms out of the total 8.5 kms enroute to the damaged section.

Antique!!! The fish plates used on the track near Neral date back to 1885!!

Our gang at the Neral NG shed. From L to R-me(Pawan Koppa), Archit, Sandeep Mohan, Debu, Pradeep Galgali and Sameer Kumar.

A view of the drivers "cabin" of the Matheran Queen.

Another view of the rakes at the Neral NG shed.

The Neral-Matheran NG rakes at the Neral NG shed.

A birds-eye view of the cabin of the NDM-1 at Neral.

Another view of the cabin of the NDM-4 at Neral.

An inside view of the cabin of the NDM-4.

Three NDM-4s lined up back-to-back at the NDM shed at Neral. In total there were three NMD-4s, two NDM-1s and the steam loco, the Matheran Queen.

An NDM-1 parked at the NDM shed at Neral. Railfan Sandeep Mohan takes a close look.

The pride of the Neral-Matheran section. The Matheran Queen stands all beaming at the Neral NG shed.

Some exclusive pics of the Neral NG Diesel loco shed. All thanks to railfan Archit who got us access to the shed. 26-01-2006.

Now we could realize why the railway officials said it would take at least two years to get this section working. In most parts the track is simply not there. First the boulders have to be cleared followed by levelling and then laying of new tracks. Railf

Even an act of track sabotage would not look so good. On one end the track sleepers hang precariously off the edge and on the other the track completely dissapears!!!

Try to count the pieces of track. We totally gave up. Tracks crushed beneath boulders from the landslide. It struck us so much to see such a wonderful section being reduced to rubble, thanks to the all-powerful forces of nature.

The track does a disspearing act. It is almost totally buried now. Leave alone the train, railfans Debu and Sameer have to figure out how to cross the rubble. Just imagine how much work it will take to get this great section ready!!

All surprises on this section! Now boulders appear out of nowhere. The tracks seem to have arrested their free fall. Fellow railfan Debu cant believe it!!

A close-up of the damage on the Neral-Matheran section. One can easily assess the gravity of the situation.

Another view..tracks hang from both sides of a once existant bridge. Now all that exists is a deep gorge filled with boulders and pieces of track scattered everywhere.

Free fall??? Look at the tracks!!! Badly damaged is an an understatement!! Tracks crumpled, mangled and hanging from every part of the landslide area.

Where does this lead to??? One can niether figure out where this track starts from or where it leads to. All that remains is mangled track and rubble.

Another view of the destroyed bridge exactly 8.5 kms from Neral. One end of the track ends up in total rubble while the other hangs from air. In short, a bridge leading to nowhere!!

Curve no.80!!! Where is the curve??? All that remains is broken track projecting from the other side of the non-existant bridge. The boulders would take years to clear and make the section traffic ready again.

If one word could be used to describe the damage caused to the Neral-Matheran section due to the devastating rains of last year, HAVOC!! could be it. Just one look at this pic and it says it all. A track hangs from thin air due to a heavy landslide which