so YPR-SBC-MYS-HAS-SKLR-MAQ? didn't know that thanks vasanth. going down the ghatta 3 engines? or two? why do they change engine in hassan? why not add(down) and remove(up)? What does WDG3A mean? W: Broad guage D: Diesel G: Goods 3: 3000 HP A: 100HP Broadguage Diesel Goods 3100 HP Diesel Engine. http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-loco.html#class

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Tarle - needs 3 locos to provide braking. If you are curious on how express/mail train numbers are given, read on. The first digit of a train refers to the zone (in alphabetical order). 2xxx are for superfast trains. 1-Central Zone, 2-Superfast,3-Eastern, 4-Northern,etc till 9 for Western Zone. So 6521 would be a Southern or SW train Within Superfast 20xx would be Shatabdi expresses. The second digit would be the zone. So 21xx would be a superfast train from the Central Railways. Up and Down would be with reference to the zonal headquarters. So 2640Up would be Brindavan express headed to Madras and 2639Dn would be towards Bangalore (Madras being the Southern Railways headquarters). Up would be associated with the higher number (ordinal). More here http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-number.html Srivathsa

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A heavenly ride on Mlore-Blore train The delay cost the nature lovers dear as they missed some of the most breath-taking views in the picturesque valleys of Yedakumeri where there is a 8-degree curve, unusual on any normal train route as it was already dusk by the time the train reached the area. Verdant valleys punctuating dozens of endless tunnels; cascading waterfalls downstream every other brook and hills nestling amid the Western Ghats. Perhaps a ride on the Mangalore-Bangalore passenger train could be the closest to heaven on earth as would be vouched for by the hundreds of people who made the inaugural special journey on Saturday. The train was flagged off by Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav at 3 pm at Mangalore. The inaugural journey, however, began on a sour note, as the flagging off initially scheduled for 1:25 pm, had to be delayed due to the usual latecomer-ministers and their lengthy harangues. The delay cost the nature lovers dear as they missed some of the most breath-taking views in the picturesque valleys of Yedakumeri — where there is a 8-degree curve, unusual on any normal train route — as it was already dusk by the time the train reached the area. However, the travellers were by then overwhelmed by whatever they could see up to the Siribagilu railway station. Interestingly, it was not only those on the train that were celebrating. Thousands of people had lined up on either side of the track to see the return of the much-sought after Bangalore-Mangalore Passenger train. Undeterred by the fact that the train was running 95 minutes behind schedule, thousands of people greeted the train with full-throated ahoys up to Subramanya. Huge crowds flocked the Kabaka Puttur and Subramanya stations to cheer the arrival of the train. They burst crackers and distributed sweets to the passengers. When the train arrived at Hassan at 8:45 pm, former MLA H M Vishwanath felicitated the loco drivers — Mail Driver C Ramaswamy and Senior Loco Inspector R Nagaraj — who incidentally were part of the inaugural metregauge train on the same route way back in 1979. Mail guard G Muralidhar who showed the green signal in the Mangalore railway station, had also flagged the green to the metregauge train in 1979. A number of people on the train had not planned their journey. Be it former MP I M Jayaram Shetty and his wife, builder Hameed or engineer Siddiq, they had decided to board the train less than 30 minutes before its departure! There were others like arecanut trader Ramnik Patel and entrepreneur Adithya who were waiting to travel by this train for many months now. “I had travelled on the Hassan-Mangalore route by the day train way back in 1995 and I can still recall that journey. The day journey will be a delight if you are a nature-lover. I think, hardly a few railway lines have the scope to pass through such a vast stretch of nature. It is time the railways think about introducing a day train on the route. It will be better if ‘Palace-on-Wheels’ type of trains are introduced on the route,” Adithya told Deccan Herald. The 55-km-long ghat section between Subramanya Road and Sakleshpur is a trip through the nature’s as well as engineering marvels. There are 670 bridges including 91 major bridges, with the Ghat section alone having 110 curves and 57 tunnels. But passengers will have to wait for many more months (or even years) to enjoy the beauty as at present the train leaves Mangalore at 7:45 pm and Bangalore at 8:35 pm. And it will pass through the beautiful locales of Western Ghats when it is completely shrouded in the dark.

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Lot of countries such as Switzerland has got top glass train to enjoy the nature. On this route also, we need similar large window trains to enjoy the nature.

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I read somewhere that going to Hassan via Mysore instead of Arsikere adds 125kms to the route! I'm sure that would amount to around 3 hrs. I guess the bus lobby is behind this decision. The train now takes around 12 hrs.

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SWR reluctantly starts mangalore service on a circuitous route to discourage travelling by train. If everybody swithches they would leave the Sugama/Durgamabas empty!!. i suspect the authorities are hand in glove with the bus lobby.

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Difference between SBC-MYS-MAQ and SBC-ASK-MAQ is 45.23 kms.
But if SBC-ASK is busier than SBC-MYS then that could be significant in terms of time. Due to scheduling reasons, as Vasanth has been mentioning for a long time, you cannot convert distance to time linearly with trains.

The interesting thing is how much distance SBC-SBGA-HAS line(163 kms) will save eventually. When compared to ASK route its about 49 kms and when compared to MYS route a whopping 95 kms. By road SBC-HAS is 180-190 kms.

So in the ultimate picture what is the best travel time we are looking at?
Bangalore Hassan 163 kms:              ~2 hours
Hassan Sakleshpur 42 kms:                 1 hour
Sakleshpur Subramanya 55 kms:         2 hours  (max allowed speed 30 kms/hr  in the ghats)
Subramanya - Mangalore 92 kms:     1.5 hours

so about 6-6.5 hours for 352 kms?

Aside:
Hassan Mangalore Rail Development Company Limited
(A Joint Venture of Ministry of Railways and Govt. of Karnataka )
http://hmrdc.com/

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TS, Hassan is 190 kms away from Bangalore and it takes 4 hours in KSRTC bus and approximately 3+ hrs by car drive or volvo. If a non-stop train is run to Hassan (which is an ideal situation - because inbetween stations will not allow the train to be non-stop - Tippu Express is an example), it may take around 2hrs 30mins ideally and 3hrs normally. An express train may take around 4hrs. Currently, if the train via Mysore is run ideally, it should take 2hrs 15 mins to Mysore (since only 1 stop at Mandya), 15 mins for engine direction change in Mysore, again 2hrs from Mysore to Hassan. It should totally take 4hrs 30mins to Hassan and in worst case 5 hrs. I remember once travelling in Rajahamsa from Bangalore to Hassan directly taking 5hrs to reach Hassan. A direct line to Hassan will save 1hrs 30 mins and reduce distance by 70 kms saving 70X4 = 280 litres of diesel!!.

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