The VISTADOME Experience

Watch the VLOG on YouTube on The Vistadome Experience.

It was 2016 when I had first watched the vlog of the Amtrak's Empire Builder train on YouTube and asked my father, who has spent nearly three decades in the Indian Railways, when can we get such facility in our railway system. He laughed and said, "Not soon enough!".

"Not soon enough!" came as early as 2018 when the first observation car was thrown open to the general public on Mumbai CST - Madgaon Jan Shatabdi Express. The specially curated observation car was aptly christened as "VISTADOME". The IR officially names this coach for its operations as AC TOURIST CAR (LWTFCZAC/WTFCZAC).

The Vistadome coach (coded as EV) is a special tourist car which has large windows on either sides of the coach, windows on the ceiling, 360° rotatable cushioned chairs and the special attraction, an observation area at the rear of the coach which offers panoramic views of the route the train travels through.

The coach is attached at the rear of a train for unobstructed views. The coach, after a couple of months of its introduction, was an instant hit among tourists who wished to take in the scenery of the Western Ghats as well as the Konkan coast.

Many such coaches were introduced later on scenic routes such as Visakhapatnam-Araku (Araku Valley), Mumbai-Pune (Khandala/Bhor Ghats), Bangalore-Karwar (Shiradi Ghats), Siliguri-New Mal (D00ars), Kalka-Shimla (Himalayas) and New Jalpaiguri-Darjeeling (Eastern Himalayas) among many others.

In the month of October I had the privilege of travelling in one of the trains. I travelled on board 16515 Yeswantpur - Karwar Express from Yeswantpur till Karwar via Mangaluru. It was the first leg of our journey (my companion and myself) of a much larger trip to Karwar and Goa.

The Journey

We reached Yeswantpur Railway Station in Bengaluru bang at 0600h in the morning. The charts were displaying that the train has been placed on platform 6. But this was no ordinary train journey. We were to travel in 16516 Yeswantpur - Karwar Express, which is quite special in terms of an ordinary passenger train. The uniqueness was the special VISTADOME coach. The special coach, coded as EV, has large full size windows on either side, viewing glass on the ceiling and a viewing gallery at the rear to take in the spectacular views the route had to offer.

We were to take the Yeswantpur (YPR) to Mangalore (MAJN) route via Hassan (HAS), and then onwards to Karwar (KAWR) after a reversal at Mangaluru Jn. Since the traction on this route was unelectrified, we had a Krisnarajapuram (KJM) WDP4D diesel locomotive powering our train. After Hassan the route climbs upto heights of around 1000m in the Shiradi Ghat section of the Western Ghats between Saklespur and Subhramanya Road. More on that later.

The train departed with a delay of 5min at 0705h and we sat down like eager kids who have been presented with new toys. The route after Nelamangala is single track only and one can witness numerous crossings on the way.

Food is available in a small pantry inside the coach which offers patties, chips, chocolates, coffee and tea all through the journey.

The interiors of the coach were modern and had state of the art amenities. Large windows offering panoramic view were the centre of attraction. The coach also featured live infotainment screens, 360 degrees rotatable cushioned seats with folding tray table, automatic gangway doors and aesthetic washroom designs with touch operated equipment.

Soon after crossing Saklespur (SKLR) railway station (1105h), at around 1130h we started climbing up the eastern slopes of the western ghats. The slope in the Shiradi Ghats is one of the steepest in the world (1 in 50), with two extra locomotives (bankers) required to pull the train apart from the regular prime mover.

The scenery was breathtaking with the windows and gallery offering panoramic view of the Western Ghats covered in a carpet of green. One can also see the distant taller mountain ranges up north. Numerous tunnels and bridges span the entire length of 55.3km. The official website of Hassan Mangaluru Railway Development Corporation (HMRDC) sums this to 58 tunnels and 700 bridges. The whole section between Saklespur (SKLR) and Subhramanya Road (SBHR) is 55.3km which was covered in three hours.

Lunch had been loaded at Hassan and after enjoying a scrumptious meal of Egg Biryani (which tasted really nice compared to IR standards) we resumed watching and enjoying the scenes. After quite a while we started descending and arrived at Subhramanya Road (SBHR), where the bankers were detached. The journey onwards to Mangaluru was mostly plains and small gradients with hills on either side.

Just before entering Mangaluru we crossed the mighty Netravathi river. The train chugged on to Mangaluru and we entered Mangaluru Jn (MAJN) right on time at 1635h. This was a reversal point where the train reversed direction and had a locomotive change. Since the Konkan railways had been recently electrified we received an Erode (ED) WAP-4 electric locomotive and cruised past the Konkan railway network, parallel to the Konkan coastline at flat mps.

Almost all the passengers deboarded at Mangaluru barring us. We had the whole coach to ourselves and used this opportunity to blast songs on our speakers for the remainder of the journey. We received our dinner at Kundapura and enjoyed the "big space" available exclusively to us.

We reached Karwar (KAWR) five minutes behind the scheduled arrival at 2230h. The station was desolate, located at the far end of the city, but was buzzing with travellers. We took an auto to our prebooked AirBnb homestay, "The Maisonette", and were welcomed by our friendly host Leo and his lovely wife Rachel.