#1-8 #9-16 #17-24 #25-33 Answers
25. The bombil fish popular on the west coast of India is known in English as Bombay Duck. While there are several different theories for how this name came about, one origin story suggests it is named for the Bombay Daak (Bombay Mail) train, on which it was carried by the wagonload into interior towns.
26. What the Palace on Wheels offers travellers to Rajasthan, the Deccan Odyssey replicates in Maharashtra, taking passengers on dream journeys in regal luxury. The train has six different routes, mainly in Maharashtra, but some that also venture into other states.
Q. Which location in Karnataka that is part of the train’s Jewels of the Deccan route, was once the capital of the Vijaynagar Empire?
27. Having come up at different periods of the Indian Railways’ 150-plus years of existence, station buildings across the country display a diverse range of architectural styles, and are often spectacular in appearance. One elegant example is the Kacheguda Railway Station, built by the Nizam of Hyderabad Osman Ali Khan in 1916 as a part of what was then called the Godavari Valley Light Railway, and later the Nizam’s Guaranteed State Railway.
28. The rail lines of the Indian Railways offer train passengers a plethora of beautiful sceneries to experience, but even among all of these, a special sight is that of the Dudhsagar Falls that trains entering Goa on the Western Railway line pass close to. In times of heavy flow during the monsoon, the spray from the waterfall can drench unwary passengers.
29. The third of the UNESCO-certified Mountain Railways of India, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway runs between Mettupalayam and Udhagamandalam (familiarly known as Ooty) in Tamil Nadu. It is the only railway in India to use the rack-and-pinion system, which enables it to climb the steep gradient without slippage.
Q: Which song from the 1998 Bollywood film ‘Dil Se’ was shot on top of the carriages of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway?
30. The Kapila bridge that spans the Kabini river in the Nanjangud area of Karnataka was originally built as a road bridge in 1735. But in 1899, a narrow-gauge railway line that ran from Mysore to Nanjangud was added to the bridge, making it the oldest railway bridge in India.
31. The Golden Chariot is a luxury train that offers travellers a peek into the history of Karnataka through three route options.
32. The Pamban Bridge is a railway bridge that connects the town of Mandapam on mainland India to the town of Rameswaram on Pamban Island. Opened in 1914, it was India’s first sea bridge, and was the longest sea bridge in India until the opening of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in 2010. The rail bridge is, for the most part, a conventional bridge resting on concrete piers, but has a double-leaf bascule section midway, which can be raised to let ships and barges pass through.
Q: The word ‘bascule’, used for a mechanism in a bridge that allows it to lift up to allow boats or ships to pass underneath, comes from a French word for what children’s playground equipment?
33. The Boat Mail or Indo-Ceylon Express was a combined train and steamer ferry service between India and Colombo in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Started in the 19th century, it initially consisted of a rail link between Madras (now Chennai) and Tuticorin (Thoothukudi), and a steamer service between Tuticorin and Colombo. It currently survives in the avatar of a train between Chennai and Rameswaram.
Resources:
Bombay Duck: https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/bombay-duck-bombil-why-is-this-delicate-fish-called-duck-1736577
Deccan Odyssey: https://www.deccan-odyssey-india.com/
Kacheguda Railway Station: https://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/travel/020616/hundred-years-of-history-and-connectivity.html
Dudhsagar Falls: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/watch-train-passing-through-dudhsagar-waterfall-in-goa-halted-due-to-heavy-rainfall-11627493951599.html
Oldest railway bridge in India: https://redearth.in/blog/2021/08/20/atrractions-of-kabini-heritage-site-over-280-years-old-kabini-bridge/
Golden Chariot: https://www.goldenchariot.org/
Pamban Bridge: https://www.financialexpress.com/photos/business-gallery/787875/pamban-bridge-indian-railways-train-rameswaram-news-facts-images/
