Travelled in this train today from Miraj to SVM. Arrived Miraj at Platform #3 at 22.15 led by the usual combo of Pune WDM3D and WDM3A. Coach Number S6 and S5 total members 4, 2 in each coach. The UR coaches were pretty much full also the Sleeper coaches and then there were the W/L passengers hunting for seats. 12779 arrived from opposite end on Platform #2 as Mahalaxami Express was on Platform #1 which departed for CSTM around 22.20 and 12779 arrived just a few minutes after its departure bang on time. My train departed Miraj bang on time and after crawling at outers for few minutes picked up good speed. Toilets were in OK condition but the wash basin was full of tobacco wrappers and the dirty red gutka spit. Coach was in good condition well maintained by the Railways I must say, but it was full of...
more... biscuit and snack plastic wrappers and empty bottles for which I wont blame the Railways its the attitude of people towards public property which must be at fault.
I could very well hear the hard chugging and whinning of the Alcos in my S6 coach. Had a good sleep for the night. Woke up at 4.55 when it was at Kulem. Departed around 5.20 and reached SVM at 5.38. Got down and said a bye to my favourite train and our VSG bound 4th member. The train finally left for VSG at 5.40 after a 2 minutes brief halt.
Overall it was a good experience even though it was around 35 minutes late. Few disappointments were most of the basins were filled with gutka trash so had difficulty brushing in the morning. Coach maintenance was good but cleaniness was below average as it had travelled all the way from Delhi and also there were a lot of families travelling who as per my opinion dirty the trains more than individual passengers apart from the gutka eaters.
Speedwise it was acceptable for the slow route as per my GPS Speedometer app it hit around 93 somewhere around Ghataprabha. But I strongly feel that the RPF and the TTEs should take firm action against those litering the coaches.
A few things I missed were spotting the loco link of 12779, Mahalaxami Express loco link was Pune WDP4D but missed noticing its CC and the descend through the mighty Braganza Ghats along with the dried out Dudhsagar.