Military Special Train To Trivandrum

Having completed its tenure in Nagaland, our battalion got de-inducted from the insurgency area and was waiting for the orders for next move. Since the battalion had seen a tough posting, we were expecting some good peace station. And what better we could have got than Trivandrum, which the Commanding Officer announced on getting the orders from the higher headquarters. Every one jumped with joy. Trivandrum was possibly the best peace station an Infantry unit could have got. As soon as the Commanding Officer broke the news of the move, the unit went into the mobilisation mode. In the Army, the Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) are laid down for every activity. Each one knows his role. Generally, a wise CO goes into hiding in such circumstances to avoid any jitters. Our CO did the same thing. In no time the unit got packed up and was ready to move to Dimapur railway Station. The rolling stock (railway wagons) was ready. Whenever an Army unit moves, a full train is allotted to it with various classes of compartments, wagons and carriages to accommodate officers, JCO and other ranks in addition to arms, ammunition, vehicles and other equipment. There are also separate wagons having cook houses called military langar to cook hot food for the troops. It is a unique experience to travel in a Military Special -- the term used for such trains. Our train took fifteen days time in reaching Trivandrum Central from Dimapur. Genarally in a normal movement other than the war situation the military specials are given last priority in order not to disrupt the normal traffic of passenger trains. One can imagine traveling in the same compartment (first class coupes for officers and second class sleeper coaches for the other ranks) for fifteen days, so we, the bachelor officers had decorated our respective coupes with our favourite pinups. Our train used to have long halts on important stations to let the normal rail traffic pass as well as to replenish our logistics. The train would be parked in some yard where the jawans would come out and do some brisk physical exercises to straighten their limbs. The officer mess would be established at a suitable open space with a small shamiana thrown up and with pipe band playing in attendance. The food and drinks would be served to officers and ladies there in style (some of of the officers were also joined by their families to enjoy the experience of the travel by a Military Special).

I will narrate a very interesting incident which occurred on our way to Trivandrum. Our train was allotted the route along the eastern coast to avoid interfering with the busy railway traffic of the central route. All the Army or Naval units falling on our route were informed of our move, who had to supply us with necessary dry and fresh rations on the way. A duty officer was deputed out of the younger lot in rotation to see that the move is systematic and things go as planned. I was deputed as duty officer one night. After a continuous run for many hours, our train stopped at a station at midnight. As per the practice i got down and met the Station Master. I was carrying the route chart of our train provided to us by the Railway authorities. When i laid the route chart on his table to tick the station where we had reached, i could not find the same. I asked the station master to have a look at our route chart. After looking at it he started shaking his head from left to right and after a few moments of silence he looked up and gave me a very hopeless look. He told me that we had come on the wrong route. The station that we had reached fell on the central route instead of our scheduled coastal route. The station master explained to me that the traffic control at Asansole (West Bengal) had wrongly put our train on the central route, and that we had come a few hundred kilometers off our route. I immediately informed the CO. He got damn upset over this. We had to pick up our supplies on the coastal route only. He asked me to arrange to take the train back to the bifurcation point, which was left behind hundreds of kilometers as mentioned above. I came back to the station master and told him the same. He was already arguing our case with the control over telephone. The traffic control were not in favour of getting our train back on the original route and we were not prepared to move further on that route for obvious reasons. I gave my piece of mind to the Station Master who obviously was not at fault. But that worked. He shouted into the telephone and told the traffic control, " look the Army Commander is sitting in front of me and is getting damn annoyed. You please take the train back and put it on the original route". I was flabbergasted on hearing him addressing me (I was Second Lieutenant at that time) as Army Commander, may be due to his limited knowledge about the rank structure of the Indian Army. Army Commander is a term used for General Officer Commanding In Chief, one of the five senior most Lieutenant Generals in charge of a Command. After a little more shouting from the Station Master the traffic control relented and our train moved back to travel on its original route. I will never forget the name of that railway station -- SHERGARH, Madhya Pradesh. This incident took place in 1979.

This post also forms part of series on my life journey. To read all the posts in this series, please click here.