Trivandrum Rajdhani Trip - Part 1 (August 1995)

My first journey on a Southbound Rajdhani turned out to be a memorable one. At that time, there were just two of these - a weekly Raj to Bangalore and a weekly Raj to Trivandrum. The latter was an extension of the Madras Raj to Trivandrum Central. Note that there was no Konkan Railway back then.

My wife and traveled on the Rajdhani from Nizamuddin till Madras. Besides being on an ICF Rajdhani with just four commercial halts till Madras, I also had the pleasure of enjoying the melodious twin-tone horn of the Shatabdi-liveried WAP1 that was in charge all the way.

The train started off with a cracking run to Jhansi in just 4 hours 11 minutes with one halt near Hodal (unscheduled). Apart from multiple shots of the cream-red rake, be sure to enjoy the following:
Skips of Mathura, Raja-ki-Mandi, Agra Cantt, Dhaulpur, Morena, Gwalior, Lalitpur
Departure from Hazrat Nizamuddin and halt at Jhansi
Crossing the Kalinga Utkal Exp. at Dhaulpur
Scissors crossing just before the Chambal bridge
Crossing the Bangalore Rajdhani at high-speed
Pantry car tour

Part 2 of the trip is here -    • Trivandrum Rajdhani Trip - Part 2 (August ...