Page 2

 

890 x 562, 45 KB. Click to enlarge
 

Another view of the unclassified maintenance vehicle sighted at Chiplun station on Konkan Railway. The Madgaon Mandovi Express crosses its counterpart two days before the Millenium New Year, 1999. Konkan Railway seems to have embraced automation and computerisation in a big way.

 

979 x 651, 45 KB. Click to enlarge
 

Villivakkam serves as an informal showcase for the immaculate rolling stock built by Integral Coach Factory, Perambur. There is a visible difference between the quality of work done here and newer coach factories like RCF, Kapurthala that have a lot of catching up to do with ICF. A set of mixed ICF coaches await delivery in late March, '98.

 

981 x 646, 55 KB. Click to enlarge
 

A hospital-on-wheels? Unlike the uniquely-liveried Lifeline Express for "aam junta" (the general populace) in remote districts of India, this all air-conditioned medical (military?) train seems to be headed out of ICF Chennai for an assignment up north. It rests on platform #2 of Villivakkam station as my EMU eases in on a warm March '98 noon.

 

976 x 641, 58 KB. Click to enlarge
 

The RM-80 is an advanced track-laying and maintenance machine, made by Plasser-Theurer and now in possession of the Chennai Division of SR who use it to maintain the permanent-way of the busy Chennai Central-Arrakkonam corridor. This unit takes a temporary sabbatical in the sidings west of Tiruninravur on a warm Saturday noon, March '98.

 

978 x 643, 51 KB. Click to enlarge
 

A green motor-coach gets matched with the dense vegetation surrounding it, near the SR coach sidings off Basin Bridge Junction in Chennai. These coaches have been earmarked to have their doors and windows sealed, so that they can now serve to carry export-ready Maruti cars from the Gurgaon plant to ports like Nhava-Sheva near Mumbai.

 

985 x 655, 61 KB. Click to enlarge
 

An OHE (Over Head Equipment) Inspection diesel-propelled unit rests at the dead-end siding near the ramp off Katpadi Junction on SR. This station forms a rail-head for the Telugu-speaking towns of Vellore and Ranipet in Tamil Nadu. Note the novel architectural design of the overhead bridge. Katpadi had an MG link running from Tirupati to Villupuram, that is to be temporarily decomissioned for gauge-conversion.