I am posting journey report with 12398 Mahabodhi Express from New Delhi to Gaya on 29th March. I was travelling in A1. I arrived NDLS at 11:30 am with huge security around the station due to Mahavir Jayanti and Lalu Yadav coming by Ranchi Rajdhani Express, which arrived shortly on PF 16.
Mahabodhi was placed on PF 8 with WAP 4 22299 loco. As Mahabodhi was placed, Kanpur Shatabdi arrived shortly with WAP 5. Huge crowd awaited Mahabodhi. At 12:10 we started though very slowly. We met Maduadinh SF at Shivaji bridge chased closely by Sapt Kranti. Around 1 PM we arrived Gaziabad and as we entered Lichvi Express was leaving for last stop NDLS and Vikramashila was entering Gaziabad.
We...
more... arrived Aligarh at 2 PM and started slowly arriving at Kanpur at 6:40 PM. Arrived Allahabad at 9 PM. Just before MGS it was stopped for nearly 1 hr and more stoppages after MGS. I was hoping that it will be able to cover the delay but again it was stopped for nearly 1 hr at Rafiganj finally arriving Gaya at 6 am sharp.
Observations
1. Coaches are very old LHB and in pretty bad condition. Full of Mosquitoes.
2. No escalators service at Gaya jn. FoB is also very narrow and steep.
3. Pantry car serves lot of variety of food. But food quality is very poor. Please carry your own food or order from e-catering.
4. Very broken toilets, handles etc.
Overall probably it was my last journey in this train. Given the poor experience, I will rather prefer to take Puroshatam then this train.