Driving through the fog

Winter months are tough on the tracks,with the fog holding up several trains. The Sunday Express travelled for an hour on the Dibrugarh Express that starts from Chandigarh and terminates at Dibrugarh,Assama distance of 2,664 km during which the train stops at 32 stations and passes through 367 stations.

Its past 1 a.m. on Thursday and the train hasnt pulled out of the Chandigarh station; the scheduled departure was at 12.40 a.m. Rajkumar,56,does some last-minute checks. He unpacks his bag,takes out his signal-light,logbook and iron handles that control the accelerator,emergency brakes etc. It is a drill that Rajkumar has unfailingly followed in the three decades that he has been with the Indian Railways as an engine driver. Today,Rajkumars duty will end at Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh,where he will be replaced by another driver.

With its peeling pale blue paint,array of metres with idle needles and manual levers,Rajkumars workstation has a quaint,nostalgic air about it. But as Rajkumar would know,old-age charm doesnt help when you have to drive through blinding fog or when you are responsible for the safety of a thousand passengers.

The train finally pulls out of Chandigarh and mercifully,the fog is thin today. But the draft from the window pane gets stronger and the cabin is already freezing. Are saab,abhi to kambal bhi niklega,tab hi to raat guzregi We will soon have to pull out a blanket, says Rajkumar,sitting on a round stool in the cabin. He will have to sit here for the next 8-10 hours without a break,he says. Today Rajkumar is accompanied by his co-driver Surajpal K,whose job,among other things,is to chat up Rajkumar. The banter is to make sure Rajkumar doesnt doze off at the controls and doesnt miss the signals along the route.

At every signal that they pass on either side of the tracks,Rajkumar and Surajpal hold up flickering green lights for the guards posted at the signals to see. The train picks pace and its rhythmic rattle is only interrupted by occasional hoots. As it speeds past smaller stations and signals,the wireless set crackles to life every time Rajkumar and Surajpal have to exchange messages to guards and station masters.

If the night is foggy,says Rajkumar,he has to rely entirely on his reflexes throughout the journey. When the fog is thick,we cant even see if the signal arm is up or down. It used to be worse earlier. The moment the train reached a signal,we would stop,get off,climb up the signal post and see if the signal was down. Things have improved now. The LED green and red lights on the signal arm can be seen from a distance and that helps. Though the fog sometimes clouds out even that, says Rajkumar.

To beat the fog,the Railways still use primitive techniques,such as bursting firecrackers on the track. Around 270 metres ahead of every signal,a round cake-shaped firecracker is kept on the tracks,with an aluminium clip to hold it in place. The moment the crackers come under the trains wheels,they burst and the noise alerts us about the approaching signal. We slow down immediately. Every station has two porters who are entrusted with the task of setting up these firecrackers on the tracks. They are specially called for the job during winters, says Rajkumar.

Earlier this year,the Railways had installed GPS devices on some long-distance trains. The Dibrugarh Express has one too,the white,shiny gadget preening in a corner. Its a basic model that displays the trains speed and the distance from the next station/signal. The GPS is helpful,but still we rely more on our reflexes and experience. The GPS cannot monitor the trains speed,neither can it apply brakes. If the driver is not alert,no device can help, he says.

Throughout the journey,we cannot afford to doze off,not even for a second. Accidents are waiting to happen anyway and sometimes for no fault of ours. There are people and cattle that get knocked down,but rail tracks are not meant for walking, he says.

Its nearing Ambala and Rajkumars eight-hour shift may extend to 10 by the time he reaches Moradabad. We are not permitted to drive the train at more than 30 km/h when its foggy. The speed reduces further depending on the visibility. But we have driven along this route for so long that we have identified certain landmarksrivers,bridges,buildings,stations etcand these come in handy during the fog. When nothing works,a drivers experience counts, he says as the train pulls into Ambala Cantonment.