Indian Railways: More than broad, metre and narrow gauges

Venkatanarasimharajuvariipeta, New Jalpaiguri, Ib, Ledo. One may not even be able to pronounce the first word, let alone figure out why these names of places (mostly unheard of) are mentioned at the start of this copy. Well, these names have significance of their own. Venkatanarasimharajuvariipeta happens to be the longest name of a station in the Indian Railways network while Ib is one of the shortest names along with Od in Gujarat. Venkatanarasimharajuvariipeta is on the Arakkonam-Renigunta section of the Southern Railway and Ib is near Jharsuguda on the Howrah-Nagpur main line (South Eastern Railway). The Indian Railways Fan Club, shortened into IRFCA, accumulated these interesting trivia on Indian Railways.[caption id=“attachment_638803” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Bholu the guard. Image courtesy Indian Railways[/caption] To quell your inquisitiveness about New Jalpaiguri station, well, it is the only station in the Indian Railways network that has all the three gauges — broad, metre and narrow. The famous Darjeeling Himalayan Railway originates from this station, the IRFCA knowledge house says. And if you are at Ledo station in Assam, then you are closer to Myanmar than New Delhi. This is India’s easternmost station. That is not all. It you alight at Qazigund in Jammu and Kashmir then do not simply walk out of the station. Realise where you are. This is the highest broad gauge station in the Indian Railways network, at 1,730m on the Anantnag-Qazigund section. Railway is not about stations alone. Next time you travel in a AC coach, do not forget to thank the Matunga Railway Workshop in Mumbai. For in 1936, this workshop made India’s first AC railway coach. When you travel between Duraundha and Maharajganj, do not worry about a pantry car. Because you won’t need it as you are travelling in the shortest railway route in India. The distance between the two points is 6 km. While the Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in the country today, better have prayer in your lips if you have any travel plans by Guwahati Express from Guwahati to Trivandrum. As IRFCA puts it, the train is notorious to be the most unreliable long-distance train in the country. The train which has to complete its journey in 65 hours and 5 minutes has in its 10-year of existence was never on time. This was as per a Times of India article published in 1995. Needs courage to travel on this one. The Railway Budget, which Union Minister for Railways Pawan Kumar Bansal will present in Parliament on Tuesday, will cover every nook and corner of this massive institution. Isn’t this a voluminous task in itself? Now do not ask who was the more eccentric railway minister—Lalu Prasad or Mamata Banerjee—even Bholu can’t answer that.