Arkya Chatterjee's video: Vizag Araku VISTADOME Full Journey Compilation Part-2 Crossing Borra Caves arriving Araku Valley

For Part- 1, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-jGqRRM3jI Mark Twain once said, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Being an escapist in my own terms, I wanted to break free from the shackles of daily monotony of earning a living and not living it. So it was time to make a journey, travel far and going back to the drugs that I was addicted to- THE RAILWAYS!! Now the tough thing was to select the location. Being with friends, the preference was on seashore rather than the mountains of the North. So would it be the Arabian, the Bengal Bay or The Ocean?? A tentative plan to the west next year is already on the cards, and the Andaman was also rejected subsequently. So it was to be the EASTERN GHATS this time. I had a long desire to visit the wonderful city of Vizag, and so 2 plus 2 is 4. From Kolkata, we boarded the Howrah- Yesvantpur Superfast to reach Visakhapatnam. A stay of only 3 days was pretty less to enjoy the charm of the wonderful city, but we couldn't afford to stay more. The reason was that I had also added Araku on the itinerary. Now one won't be spoiled for choices to travel from Vizag to Araku. Either its by road or by train. The down journey was planned to be covered by road, and so the up journey was to be by train. Now only two trains connect Vizag and Araku. The 18514 Visakhapatnam- Kirandul Express with the most unearthly dropping time at the quiet little hilltown, and the 58501 Visakhapatnam- Kirandul Passenger, which covers the entire route in daylight. So without any hesitation, we opted for the PASSENGER. Now the train has got Unreserved coach, Reserved Chair Car, Sleeper coach, AC 2 Tier (Which was discontinued) and the PREMIUM VISTADOME. This train is the first one in India to sport the VISTADOME, and provides tourists a wonderful view of the scenic but treacherous railway route. Although the VISTADOME pinches the pocket hard, but it was too attractive and appealing to give a miss.. So that was it. We were travelling on one of the most Premium class of coach on one of the most beautiful railway route of Indian Railways. So this video takes you on a ride with me on the VISTADOME from Tyada to Araku Via Borra Caves (Guhalu) on the second leg of the journey. The route not only offers some unbeatable scenic beauties, but also gives us a hindsight of the extreme engineering feet achieved some 50 years ago. From a height of 11 metres at Visakhapatnam, the train treks up to 996 metres at Shimiliguda, which was the highest broad gauge railway station in Indian Railways till 2004. After Shimiliguda, the train descends a bit and reach Araku at 928 metres. The VISTADOME coach is detached here, as the remaining train heads to Kirandul. On the second leg of the journey, we would be covering the remaining stretch from Tyada to Araku. Needless to say, it was simply an unbeatable experience. An excitement that would stay with me forever. And to share my beautiful experience with you all, So hope all of you enjoy the journey as much as I did. And please subscribe, like and leave back your comments in the comment section below. KOTTAVALASA KIRANDUL GHAT SECTION: In 1960, Indian Railway took up three projects: the Kottavalasa – Araku – Koraput – Jeypore – Jagdalpur – Dantewara – Kirandaul line, the Jharsuguda – Sambalpur – Bargarh – Balangir – Titlagarh Project and the Biramitrapur – Rourkela – Bimlagarh – Kiriburu project. All the three projects taken together were popularly known as the DBK Project or the Dandakaranya – Bolangir – Kiriburu project. The Kottavalasa– Kirandaul line was opened in 1966–67 under South Eastern Railway Zone with financial aid of Japan for transporting iron ore. The line passes through the hill sections of Eastern ghats through Araku Valley. It is one of. the highest broad gauge line of the country. The line has a total of 58 tunnels and 84 major bridges and each tunnel is as long as 520 metres. Electrification of the line was completed in four phases. Kirandul– Jagdalpur section was completed in 1980. Jagdalpur– Koraput section was completed in 1981. Koraput– Araku– Waltair section was completed in 1982. The Kottavalasa– Kirandul route was completely electrified by 1982. The line is mainly used for freight purposes which earns huge profit for Waltair Division. Nearly ₹3,000 crore (US$420 million) of profit comes through this line. Iron ore from Baladila are transported to Visakhapatnam through this line.