I travelled in Circar from MS to SLO in December coming from TVC due to non-availability of tickets (even Tatkal) on all other trains. As usual Circar was available even on the previous day. Started from PF8 in MS on time at 17.20, was sparsely filled from the start. Coaches were clean and well maintained courtesy of SCR/KCG.
Had a crossing at GPD possibly with 12967. Very little boarding/deboarding of reserved passengers in the route even at BZA. Maintained decent speeds and despite crossing with 12759 at Vetapalem, reached TEL 5 mins ahead of time at PF5. Meanwhile 12615, 12709 passed on PF4. Reached NGNT right time and waited for 17015 to pass on BZA-GNT mainline for around 10 mins. I...
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got down in between out of boredom and to my surprise, less than 10 people, including general coaches got down on the deserted, dark platform. I dozed off around this time and woke up at 4.10 due to lot of sound and lighting. Again to my surprise, the train just reached BZA on PF4. Meanwhile, 12245 halted for around 5 mins on PF5 and chugged along very fast (Surprise again, it was manually announced as arriving, despite not having an official stop).
Finally started at a decent pace around 4.35 and reached GDV around 5.20. I was partially asleep all the way but noticed lot of people getting on and off at TNKU and BVRT amid heavy fog. Reached RJY at around 8.30 and realised Ratnachal had already left. Quite a few people travelling to stations in the SLO-VSKP stretch were disappointed at this. Finally arrived at SLO PF2 at around 9.40 where I got down, train departed for COA after a 2-3 min stop with no crossings.