it's all about Konkan railways. I had heard about it from my Maharastrian friends. But trust me I have never even googled it (who searches about railway).
Now I need to go to Mangaluru and I chose a train journey rather than booking a flight. it took my life's 43 hours away from me. Earlier I was half-hearted about this journey but trust me after Panvel station(Mumbai) the landscapes changed totally and then all of a sudden the journey turned from a regular to picturesque because rainfall started and the view from the window was making me spellbound.
There were many rivers pass through the track but Jagbudi river goes parallel to railway track and it makes journey alluring. Konkan railway covers total distance of 738 kms. from Mumbai to Mangaluru and three states Maharastra, Goa and Karnataka . Until the Konkan railway started its operations two important port cities Mangaluru and Mumbai were not directly connected by the railway network. People would travel by train running via Bangaluru→Belagavi→Pune and other conveyance was Bus(those were not direct too). With a total number of 2000 bridges and 91 tunnels built through mountainous terrain containing many rivers it was the biggest and perhaps the most difficult railway engineering project on the Indian subcontinent at that time.
This region is thickly forest. First train running along the full route between Mumbai and Mangaluru was in May 1998. I would love to say that first of all take a long train journey because you learn so much in them and find good people around and if you are going via this route try to go by train.
Protip- Go by sleeper coach where you can feel the sound change in tunnels and can see the natural beauty more closely.
