PART 1: /blog/post/1608223
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PART 2: SBC-NZM
Date: 26th September 2015
Train no: 22693
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name: Bengaluru Rajdhani aka (PrimoSupremo, First Rajdhani for South India)
IRI trip diary link : /diary/trip/73394
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Since it’s mainly a RF trip, I reached SBC at 19 hours to witness the live action till the rake arrives to platform number 8. First train which I witnessed was the crawler express from Mysore to Solapur, Golgumbaz. It came with a WDG 4 from KJM as the link. After a fifteen minute brief halt it departed from SBC, then a derated WDM2 of KJM shed with YDM power pack brought a scintillating LHB rake from Yesvantpur end, yes it’s none other than the distinguished Rajdhani of south, ‘Bengaluru Rajdhani’. The coach composition was exactly opposite for that day, I guess this should be the rake which would have undergone reversal at Pakala due to Nanded express Mishap. Later an EMD triplet arrived near the EOG and it was attached. For a moment I was perplexed thinking whether all 3 live EMD’s will act as the steed for Rajdhani, later the two were decoupled and it went as light engines to KJM. The locomotive for Rajdhani was a 20027 WDP4 with Long hood front. My coach was a 2011 made 3A coach, B7 was its identity. It departed at 20:22, 2 minutes behind the schedule time. As usual I was wished by my friend Nikhil for my journey to be pleasant. True to his wishes it was indeed a pleasant one. It started slowly and it was skipping the suburbs of the Garden city in a leisure pace. At YPR, the lifeline of North Karnataka, Solapur express was stationed with a WDG4 as the loco. Bailey water bottle was provided at 20:30. When the train was nearing Yelhanka, the bread sticks and tomato soup was provided. At DBU, it crossed the SSPN-MAS express in which Railfan Stevenson was on board, he even taped a video of the Primo Supremo. Unfortunately I missed the chance to greet him:( as the TTE was strict and he refused to open the door. Then came the dinner, the catering contract was with Meals on wheels. The Menu for dinner was roti with a chicken curry (mixed vegetable curry for vegetarians), jeera rice, Dal, Soan cake and a pickle. Interesting no Curd and Ice-cream was given that day which confounded many passengers. At Oddarahalli, the train was halted to allow the LTT-CBE express. Interesting that day Coimbatore express had an Alco as its link. After that, I decided to doze off since I was very tired due to lack of sleep as I travelled in the sleep killer. When I woke up the train was entering Secunderabad ten minutes before the scheduled arrival. It had locomotive change there, from WDP4 to a WAP7 and water was filled there. I could not notice the road number of WAP7 since my 3A coach was at the end. It departed SC at 5 minutes past 8 AM. After SC, one rail neer water bottle was provided along with the newspaper. 5 minutes later, breakfast provided. Breakfast was bread omelet (kesari&upma for vegetarian), tea and a juicein a tetra pack. The WAP7 started to touch its MPS; again it slowed down near Ghatkesar, where I was greeted by Sumanth bro, Prithviraj bro and Murthy bro. Later I came to know that the WAP7 had an air conditioned cab with the road number 30238 from Murthy. It overtook Guntur bound Intercity at Jangaon. Later it did not have much of an MPS action and reached KZJ 35 minutes behind schedule. At KZJ, It halted hardly for 45 seconds. None deboarded from last 3 3A coaches. After KZJ, the WAP7 unleashed its raw power; it was galloping like a horse which has nothing in its view apart from the tracks. All the AP towns like Ramagundam, Sirpur was skipped at MPS. Vegatable soup and bread sticks were provided just after Sirpur town. It covered 10 minutes of the lost time before reaching BPQ from where CR crew takes charge. At BPQ lunch was served. It was same as previous day’s dinner. After BPQ, it was a good show skipping the villages of Maharashtra and it was cruising to its next commercial halt, Nagpur. This stretch is good for railfanning as this train overtakes the prestigious Andhra Pradesh express (Telangana in future) in this section. I was geared up to capture it, First it overtook Nandigarm express at Majri, next was a big fish which was none other than the king of SCR. It reached AJNI very much ahead of the schedule and it was halted for 3minutes and it slowly started to crawl to the ‘Orange city’. I stared down the name board in incredulity as it reached 10 minutes before the scheduled arriving time. At Nagpur, many people disembark and equal volume of crowd gets back. After Nagpur the train travels with leisure pace since it has a good slack till Bhopal. Snacks was given when it clocked 5,. Tea, sandwich and a samosa was given. The environment will be lush green once it starts to ascend the ghats. It reached Itarsi 20 minutes before the scheduled time. At Itarsi , Rasam was given on lieu of soup and breadsticks. It tasted good. When the train was nearing Hosangabad, dinner was given. Once again the same monotonous menu existed for dinner, the only change was the gravy. Egg gravy was given Non vegetarians and Panner was given to vegetarians . It was 25 minutes before time at Habibganj and it was halted for 10 minutes there, later it was made to crawl till Bhopal so that it reaches the capital of MP at the scheduled time. At Bhopal few people got in since 22691/22693 acts as a premier overnight connectivity for elite passengers bound to New Delhi. I decided to sleep after Bhopal since this train will reach NZM at 6 o clock. At 5’o clock on the following day, a huge jerk due to the CBC coupling made me awake, I noted the station and it was Palwal. PrimoSupremo was 18 minutes ahead of the schedule. It was cruising at 130Kmph near Asaoti and then started the trouble for the Rajdhani, it was made to halt at almost all the stations enroute to NZM after Asaoti. At 6:15, BPL Shatabdi hurried past with a P5 marked WAP5. I guess the Lucifer’s rays were very powerful on this train making it reaching NZM 30 minutes delayed instead of making it arrive before the scheduled time.
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RATINGS:
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1)Speed:
I would like to rate the speed of this train as per section.
SBC-SC: 3/5-[ It will be like travelling in a AC express, Not much of an interesting MPS action one due to unruly gradients and it is a single line section]
SC-KZJ: 3/5- [It will touch its MPS and very soon it will slowdown to 30kmph, May be due to many TSR and freight obstruction, it overtakes Guntur intercity in this stretch]
KZJ-BPQ: 5/5-[It gets good priority in this section, Mostly it will be cruising at MPS]
BPQ-NGP: 5/5-[This stretch is really awesome for rail fanning since it overtakes two trains, one is Nandigram and the another is the legendary AP express]
NGP-BPL: 4/5-[It will traverse through ghat section. One can enjoy tunnels and viaducts here. Speed will be good in the plains of the stretch]
BPL-NZM: 5/5-[The dragon is unleashed in this stretch, touches 130Kmph on many occasions. Though it gets trolled at NZM suburb, it’s a good stretch to enjoy the speed. GT express , TN express and goa express are the notable trains which gets overtaken by this monster]
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Cleanliness: 5/5 [The cleanliness was awesome, Being an SWR train, I need not say about Cleanliness. It has OBHS. They regularly sweep the floor and clean the floor with phenoyl. Water will mostly get over for 3A before it reaches SC. Water will be filled at SC, NGP and BPL. ]
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Maintenance: 5/5 [The coach was 2011 made, many coaches were newly made ranging from 2011 to 2013, Primary Maintenance is by SWR. I think I need not say more. All bays had charging points which were in working condition. The main disadvantage is the absence of charging point in Side lower. This problem is present in LHB coaches]
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Food: 3/5 [Catering was by meals on wheels, the quantity is low. The menu for lunch should be changed, it should not be the same as dinner]
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ADVANTAGES:
1) Good priority all time.
2) Good for rail fanning.
3) It wastes only one day, so it’s ideal for passengers who have office on the day when it reaches the destination
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DISADVANTAGES:
1) Despite being a Rajdhani, its just 1 hour 20 minute faster than Karnataka Sampark Kranti. It should take the same time taken by YPR-DEE Duronto. It can be speeded up in BPQ-NGP section by 10 minutes (arrived before time to AJNI by 15 minutes) and NGP-BPL by 20 minutes (arrived before time to Habibganj outer by 30 minutes), JHS-NZM by 15 minutes (arrived Asaoti by 20 minutes ahead of the schedule). Overall it can be speeded up by 45 minutes but ironically IR slowed this train 20 minutes.
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PART 3: NDLS-BCT /blog/post/1610374