Rameswaram-Karaikkudi

Trip Report: Rameswaram-Karaikkudi Jn. by 6714 Sethu Express
Date: May 3, 2004.

After visiting Danushkodi, I wanted to locate the place where the line to Danushkodi split from the line to RMM. I was to board the Sethu Express to go to Karaikkudi, which departed from RMM at 1510. The station is quaint and has an old world charm about it. There are three platforms, of wich only 2 and 3 are in use. I saw 2 YDM4s at RMM: 6138 and 6312, one of them for the RMM-MDU pass. On this train, I saw a coach labelled R6885/Y. What does the 'R' stand for? Rebuilt coach????

The Sethu rake was shunted on platform 2 by 6349 GOC YDM4, LHF. This was the loco allocated to Sethu for the day. We occupied our seats in the II (unre.) coaches. This was the first time I was travelling by an unreserved coach, and it turned out to be a good experience. First of all, there was no crowd at all in both the coaches!!! We had a full cabin to ourselves, and the whole coach had around 20 people. We decided not convert our tickets into sleeper ones, as this coach was good enough. The coach was clean and well maintained, and anyway the train started. With a short blast, the YDM4 started puffing away and soon, we were off!! I again positioned myself at the door hoping to catch sight of the lost line to Danushkodi. 6714 soon picked up speed and we quickly reached Pamban, the station just before the viaduct. Till then I had doubts about one place, where I thought I saw tracks, but dismissed it as imagination.

We arrived at Pamban around 1530, and the train pulled to a stop. I wondered what the matter was, as Sethu did not halt at Pamban. Looking at the loop line, I saw the signal at proceed. A crossing! What train, I wondered. I was feeling bored and was looking out the door, when I observed a small culvert next the one under our track. This culvert did not have any track, but was covered with sand and was wide enough to fit a single MG line. My curiosity was aroused, and I got down and went to the culvert, but could not see any track. Looking around, I saw some metallic bridge beams placed directly aligned to the culvert some distance away, toward the viaduct end of the station. As I walked toward these beams, I found some tracks!!!! These were below the beams, and were normal railway track, MG, fixed to sleepers and not discarded rails!!! Here was a railway track not being used and is submerged by sand!!! Also, it was directly aligned with the culvert, so they had to pass on it. The culvert was indeed for a railway track!!!! I looked around for someone to ask about it, but found no one. I returned to my coach and saw that the SLR coach was two cars behind me. I decided to ask the guard himself.

And what did he say.....the tracks were indeed for Danushkodi and they diverged from Pamban R.S. itself!!!! The signal posts of Pamban R.S. towards RMM once used to additionally contain a signal post for the Danushkodi line!!! So, the line to Danushkodi split from the line to RMM at Pamban and proceed directly following the alignment of the current NH49. Mission accomplished!!! Check out this map for a layout of the Rameswaram Island...

I wanted to ask more questions to the guard as he seemed to be the talking type, but right then came the 90 min late 6701 TBM-RMM Express on the loop line hauled by 6132 YDM4 and he had to do the customary flag waving, and then our train left. Anyway, I had succeeded in locating the lost Danushkodi line and I sat back to enjoy the Pamban bridge again. The train crossed the bridge and passed through the same places I had described in my earlier report, but was held up at Paramkkudi to let a 6039 YDM4 led train cross. We passed through Ramanathapuram, Manamadurai Jn. and reached KKDI around 2030, almost an hour late.

One thing I would like to mention here: the unreserved coach I took had little crowd till Manamadurai, but even then people sat only one person per seat, i.e. 8 people per cabin only, as specified by the seat numbers. I shudder to think how things would be in an unreserved coach in states like Bihar, where even sleeper coaches are filled to capacity!!! So this was really no experience in unreserved travelling, I suppose :)))

For further reports, please refer the menu on to the left side of the page. This report continues at Madurai Junction. Thanks for a patient reading!