Meter Gauge lines in Uttar Pradesh Terai region

This is an unusual trip. I had 2-3 days to kill starting from Delhi before returning to Delhi just after financial year changes for some bank work. I reached Delhi on 30th for my bank work which was on Friday and decided to be back again on 3rd April. What better way to kill the time than finishing off some bucket list item of traveling in Meter gauge trains which may soon get converted. There was a rumour of couple of lines shutting down on 31st March so decided to travel on them on last day.

30th March

Today reached Delhi from Pune by early morning flight and after finishing the bank work came to New Delhi station for travel to Shahjahanpur by Shramjeevi express. The moment I entered the New Delhi station from Pahargunj side, it brought back the memory when I used to frequent this place as part of travel or railfanning. This time surprisingly it seemed clean and with less crowd which should have swelled as compared to few years back. I realized the reason for it being Anand Vihar terminal being built which now caters of lot of trains going east. There was a colorful digital display about trains like in airports. 

Display board at NDLS

PF1 at NDLS

It was afternoon and hot but still bearable as station was clean and not much crowd. I slowly made my way into the station going up and down platform 1 which is used for special trains like Bhopal shatabdi. Then I climbed the foot overbridge and came to view the skyline which seemed familiar with couple of building tops which were new. Went upto other end and came back to platform 5 where the train was supposed to come. The platform was crowded due to summer rush. The train goes all the way to Patna. I had my reservation at side lower seat in a sleeper coach. The train arrived and I promptly occupied my seat. There were definitely many more than 72 passengers which are designated in the coach but it was fine. The train started and made its way via Shivaji bridge, Tilak bridge, Pragati Maidan to Ghaziabad where it halted. From there it went to Moradabad, Bareilly and finally just after sundown it reached Shahjahanpur. Like a child I was glued to views outside with acres after acres of light brown wheat fields and trees.

In between station

We crossed Ganges at Garh Mukteshwar. The countryside was pretty but the towns seemed filthy on the route with garbage and uneven shanty buildings. 

Shahjahanpur has a historical connect. The Kakori conspiracy of looting train with British treasury was accomplished from here. The station has commemorative decoration narrating the incident. On reaching station I enquired about the meter gauge train the next day. The meter gauge section of the station was a little away where a crowded train had just arrived. I checked into an already reserved hotel close by and retired for the day.

Kakori conspiracy memorial at Shahjahanpur

31st March

Day started with checking out of hotel in Shahjahanpur. There was nip in the air. I quickly walked to meter gauge station and had tea and bought ticket. 

Shahjahanpur MG station

Shahjahanpur - Pilibhit timetable

The platform and train was already crowded. After clicking pics managed to get into coach and placed backpack behind the door. On enquiring to train driver, he said they haven't heard anything of line shutting down for gauge conversion. 

Train ready to depart

platform scene

The train started slowly and everyone settled and sun was up providing the warmth. There were couple of crossings, one at a Dhakia Tiwari and other at Bisalpur station. All along, it was same continuous view of wheat fields and trees. One would wonder how could such fertile areas be underdeveloped. The train got crowded to the hilt but there was no rooftop travel.

Crossing at Dhakia Tiwari

Enroute to Pilibhit

Typical countryside

Crossing at Bisalpur

There was huge crowd waiting at Pilibhit. The station has un-electrified BG and MG. The same train which came from Shahjahanpur would go to Mailani at 11am. I took this opportunity to go to Pilibhit town bazar looking for breakfast. Pilibhit town is a parliament constituency of Maneka Gandhi and her son Varun Gandhi which we keep hearing about during election times. There were plenty of e-rickshaws which is one sign of progress which one could witness. The rickshaw took me through a long and narrow road with houses and shops around to bazar. Here I had oily Chole Bhature and Jalebi Dahi at a decent looking shop. The town seem to be relatively clean and bustling with business. 

Pilibhit station

Going into Pilibhit town

At station the train was ready to depart. While I waited, a train from Mailani came which would go to Shahjahanpur. There was huge crowd and free for all and stupidity of getting in first without letting insiders come out was at display. The train chugged on, the country side was pretty with field after field of golden wheat ready to be harvested. Along with it thin eucalyptus trees planted in line all swayed to one side due to wind. Then there was stretch of high and dense trees too. Some houses were picture postcard bang in the middle of field with tree providing shade. One house had a rope-bed with thatched roof waiting for someone to rest.

Picture card houses

Picturesque field

Only when some village or town came the scene changed from pretty to yuck with garbage and filth and stagnant pool of blackish water. Why don't they clean this up some time? At Kuraiya station lot of people got down. Then came station Akela Hanspur mean lone swan. There were lot to fields with white egrets and other birds congregating. 

Finally reached Mailni which is sprawling. The BG is already there as line to Lucknow is already under construction. I went outside to Mailani town like I did at Pilibhit but this one is a small single road town with very few people. Spoke to a shopkeeper who said this is due to line being closed. Once line starts people will be back. Had roti-daal for 30 rupees at dingy place. There was cleanliness at the station. 

I had booked my stay for tonight at Dudwa national park eco huts as there didn't seem to be any stay option at Mailani. Also there was opportunity to visit Dudwa. I had poured over Google maps and enquired with friends about how can I go from Dudwa station to Dudwa national park eco huts. There doesn't seem to be any road. Even though the eco huts are close to railway line but station is 3-4 kms away. There was not much information whether one can come to a nearby road or would train slow down or stop near eco huts.  Lastly, I inquired about getting down at Dudwa station to the train driver but he advised against it. Walking back on the track is possible but could be fraught with danger of animals. Not taking much risk decided to get down at Palia Kalan and then go to Dudwa to spend night.

The train for Bahraich left at 3:00PM and slowly the forest around the line became denser. There was a road running parallel which goes to Dudwa. Pilibhit is one of the district which has dense forest and home to Dudwa national park. First came station Bhira Kheri and then we crossed Sharda river to arrive at Palia Kalan. Sharda river had decent amount of water and there were kids looking to pick coin offerings made by passengers. Spotted couple of spotted deer and another one later on the way to Palia. Palia is a decent town with industry. From Palia Kalan caught rickshaw to bus stand which had number of buses standing. The one going to Gauri Fanta would pass by national park gate and I could get down there. The bus was full by the time it left. Gauri Fanta was displayed on direction boards but wasn't listed on Google maps. Gauri Fanta is close to Nepal border. There were a number of trucks of Nepal oil corporation on the road. For land locked country like Nepal, transporting oil must be supported by India. There is another border town called Chandan Chowki which probably has abandoned railways line too. 

Mailani Jn station

Bridge over Sharda river

Palia Kalan

Welcome to Dudwa

The countryside was same full of wheat, sugarcane and trees and absolutely flat. This is Terai region in the foothills of Shivalik range but still there is no small hill or hillock. The road was single lane broken with truck traffic. The bus was an old bus. The buses abandoned in big cities come to ply here. The bus dropped me at the gate of national park. The attendant was surprised to see a single guest walking in like that. I opted for dormitory which is Rs 1000 but decent. Light would cut off but immediately restored probably generator. The dinner buffet was sumptuous.

1st April

Woke up at 5am to get ready for safari at 6am. My companion were a middle aged couple who were nice. Shared vehicle for safari with them which costs 2200. We got a Gypsy and set out at 6:30am. They were keen to do Elephant safari which takes one inside Rhino area. I was reluctant to do it as was wondering whether it would delay things for my 11:10am Palia kalan boarding. Also the Elephant ride was on whim of range officer who one had to talk to get ride and if some VIP comes it may cancel also. We took 2-3 rounds of park which was beautiful but we did not spot anything. We came back every time to check whether elephants are now available. There was a tea stall which was doing brisk business selling tea, pakoda, Maggi and it being Sunday there was crowd. While waiting for elephants to ride, there was great show of an adult and a baby elephant who were brought to drink water from hand-pump. They would put their nose on the outlet till they are full and then drink it. The young elephant was playful. 

Mother and child drinking water from hand pump

Watch tower at Dudwa

Jeep trail inside Dudwa

River inside Dudwa

Finally at 9:25am elephants came. I was sceptical of getting late but was tempted. Also the guide was assuring that he would arrange something for me to go to Dudwa station directly. So I persisted and was well rewarded for it. The elephant I was riding was named Chameli, a female elephant and her child Vinayak would accompany her everywhere as he is just 4 years old. Then I sat behind watching antics of playful Vinayak and other two elephants carrying tourists. There is a marked area for Rhino which were brought from Assam few years back and their strength has grown up to 35. After clearing some jungle we came to grassland with tall grass and there two Rhinos at the distance mother and child grazing happily. We came upto 10-20 meters close. They looked up couple of times but could not admire them very well as we turned back. 

Elephant ride in Rhino area

Rhinos

Vinayak following his mother Chameli

These jungles has good amount of grassland. There are cameras fitted which capture movement of any animal or us too. I was happy to go with elephant ride but worried about train. When driver of our vehicle promised to drop me at Dudwa station on bike I was relieved. The guy then arranged for a bike and dropped me at station going through a jungle trail for 3-4 kms. One could walk all the way but for fear of animals. I reached Dudwa by 10:45am though departure was at 11:24am. However the train was very late. It was to come around 12:15 and came at 1:15pm. So had good two hours idle time. I enrolled station master into letting me photograph who agreed after making sure it was for personal use. This might be the one of the few stations where hardly any passengers boards or alights. Only the station staff and the canteen operator take the train to go back to Palia Kalan. However, I was a passenger and promptly bought a ticket. Surprisingly the station had a UTS (Unreserved Ticketing System) computer system. The station is may have importance as a crossing station. Due to single line section, trains need a loop line to cross each other.

Dudwa station

Train from Bahraich approaching Dudwa

These are all Meter Gauge destinations which I visited

Passengers taking relief at station

Time to go

After first round of photography of station from all angles went to chat with station master. Looking at his office I realized how the working here is so detached from cities. The life here is laid back. The train working here is old style Neale's ball token and paper authority. The station master doesn't stay here but has family in Palia Kalan. He comes here three days a week and then goes back. He said its difficult for him to stay, how to bring family. Surprisingly there is a small snack canteen which sells food like Samosa, chips and biscuits to passengers of passing train. Their main business is feeding to train passengers who come hungry after long ride from earlier stations. Earlier there used to be lot of people coming in from Gorakhpur, Gonda but due to gauge conversion now it's restricted to Bahraich. Station master mentioned that earlier Dudwa used to be coveted posting due to timber when it was lucrative to get transferred here but now it is punishment posting. 

My train to Bahraich left at 1:15pm from Dudwa and was not crowded at all. It went through the forest of Dudwa for about 25km before coming to Belrayan. The forest was typical of Sal trees and grassland. After Belrayan came Tikunia. These were small towns and people boarded and alighted. Then we crossed Ghagra river barrage called Girija barrage near a station called Manjhra Purab. Here railway line was running parallel to river which was quite wide due to barrage. The again it went inside forest and came station called Bichia. After Bichia came Nishangada which is close to Katarnia Wildlife sanctuary. At couple of station some folks tried to get firewood into the coaches and station master roughed them for doing it. His point was they throw the wood while train is in motion and it may derail the train. Throughout there were small roads along the railway track probably going interior. The line is almost parallel to Nepal border which is 4-5 kms away. The roads all lead to some small villages along the border. After Murtiha came a slightly bigger town of Mihin Purwa. Then came Raibojha and finally Nanpara.  

Barrage over Ghagra River

Train going through forest

Bichia

Nishangada

Murtiha

Mihin Purwa

Raibojha

Crowd at Nanpara

Nanpara

I happened to scan Nepal-India border on Google maps along this line and found that Indian side is forest and abruptly on Nepal side the greenery gave way to agriculture fields. Nepal hasn't protected this side of forests probably due to population pressure to produce food.

There was huge crowd to get into the train. The people were mostly muslims going to some event to Bahraich. Bahraich is muslim majority district in Uttar Pradesh which I came to know from a little research on Bahraich. The boys wore colourful skull caps and kurta payjama. There was lot of shouting and shrieking by women trying to get into train. I barely managed to hold on to at the door. There was no light in the coach. Nanpara is a junction with a line going to Nepalganj Road where Nepalganj is a town in Nepal, but there was no questions of looking for train going there as I was keen to reach Bahraich and it was getting dark due to my train being delayed by couple of hours.  After an hour I was relieved to reach Bahraich. Took an e-rickshaw and went to my pre-booked hotel. After freshening up went to a nearby eatery called Gupta bhojanalaya which served thalis for Rs 60. It was sumptuous with old style wood fired kitchen. I realized that in this region, breakfast or snack food is invariably Samosa or Aloo or Bread Pakoda or Bhajiya or Chole Bhature all oily stuff. Wonder why this region is keen on oily snacks and food.

2nd April

Day started a bit late thinking that Bahraich is close to Lucknow and wouldn't take much time by bus. I first went to railway station to click pictures and look at Broad Gauge station. Bahraich was again quintessential India town. Then came to bus stand which was rubble and without any paved surface. An occasional gust of wind would raise the dust and plastic garbage. It was sad display. 

Bahraich Station

Bahraich Bus Stand

I tried to get some biscuits but the shops selling water and chips didn't have biscuits!! So, just took water and chips as breakfast. The white coloured air conditioned bus was parked but locked and enquiry counter in the building had boys playing on mobile phones. The ordinary buses were lined and conductor was trying to get passengers. The bus would take 3.5 hours and go all the way to Lucknow Charbagh which is Lucknow train station where I was to catch Lucknow Shatabdi back to Delhi. All plans of savoring Tunday kabab at Aminabad vanished as I had to catch the train. I thought let me first make it to station and then see what is possible. The bus which I boarded stopped at Jarwal for some time. After that it went non-stop to Lucknow Charbagh. The area was chaotic, all buses, autos, road-side shops and people all blocking the passage of vehicles. Wondered if there is any traffic police. Then saw Lucknow metro at Charbagh. There was modernity elevated but chaos below it. There is an AC lounge at Lucknow station on Shatabdi platform and it it conveniently connected to road. One can park vehicle and climb few steps to stand in front of train on Platform 6. Had lunch at one of the bhojanalaya in front of station at Rewdi Wali gali. Pure veg and non-veg restaurants are next to each other in dingy state. 

Boarded Lucknow Shatabdi which left on time. The run of Lucknow Shatabdi was impressive with max speed at 130kmph. The food was same staple food which has been there for years. 

Lucknow Shatabdi pf-6

Snack served onboard Lucknow shatabdi

The purpose of this trip was multi-fold. First to visit the MG lines in Uttar Pradesh Terai region which I did fully except branch from Nanpara to Nepalgunj Road. Second was to visit Uttar Pradesh towns and interiors and observe life, whatever that means. Thirdly, to visit Dudwa national park as bargain. Overall, I visited Shahjahanpur, Pilibhit, Dudwa, Mailani, Bahraich, Lucknow though briefly or let's say railed through them!