Need to understand the purpose of having the Opinion box beside a post. The options available there are :
Thanks
Great
Useful
Agree
So by mere selection of one of these, we are supposed to be giving our opinions. However why are we still blogging the same as a post - I dont think the initial blogger needs to know who likes his/her post or who is giving an opinion.
By just writing these comments on each and every blog daily, one can easily accumulate 1000 blogs in a week. Finally thats what some are looking...
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at - just numbers.
Moderator - can you please issue a directive on this to all - including ALL ADMINS - with no exceptions.

----INFORMATION ON SECUNDERABAD RAILWAY STATION FOR REGULAR/FIRST TIME TRAVELERS-----
History: This station was the headquarters for the Nizam’s Guaranteed state Railway and had MG and BG P.way from its inception as HYB-WL was Broad gauge while SC-MMR and SC-DHNE was Meter gauge, SC served as a vital connection for people of Islam Faith to travel to Ajmer, religious tourism and many other socio-economic aspects involving the Hyderabad-Secunderabad culture propelled SC into one of the places with the highest activity in twin cities of HYB and SC retaining its glory till date. Anyway much of it later, this is an attempt only to provide info on the amenities and FAQ’s.
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Information on the station: Secunderabad Junction leads out to four directions,...
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towards Kazipet in the east, Nizamabad in the North West, Wadi in the West and Dhone in the South West of which SC-KZJ route in undoubtedly the busiest. SC has 10 platforms physically, however PF-6 and 7 have been divided into A and B that is 6A/6B and 7A/7B.
The station has two exits of which the main one is towards PF-1 while the second one called Bhoiguda exit is towards PF-10, both the exits have decent Car parking spaces, current booking, Unreserved booking and ATVM machines. PF-10 end exit/entrance also has one PRS counter; the main reservation complex at SC station however is beside Rathifile bus stand a short walk from PF-1 Exit.
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There are three Foot Over Bridges(FOB) one at the Kazipet end, second one in the middle and one towards HYB end on all platforms, FOB’s on either ends of the platform connect PF-1 to 10 through all platforms however the middle FOB connects PF-1 to the Bhoiguda exit through all platforms except 10, kindly keep this in mind in case you intend to reach PF-10 from PF-1 else you may end up outside the station. There are battery operated passenger carts which transport elders and physically handicapped free of cost from/to any platform, there are quite a lot of trolleys and in case you don’t find one, you can ask help from GRP/RPF.
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Food is generally available on all platforms, and tastes of the typical IRCTC food. I would advise travellers to go Hyderabad for the short trip if you are reading this before travelling to Hyderabad for the first time; Hyderabad is known for its cuisine and offers a lot to explore. There are many historic hotels around Secunderabad station, if you are transiting through SC with a short buffer I would suggest ALPHA hotel which stands tall from many decades, or paradise (which is a couple of kms away)if you just stepped out of a train during lunch time and prefer a classic Hyderabadi Lunch with meat or veggies as your choice would be. Alpha also offers express Parcel on Hyderabadi Biryani’s which a lot of people prefer to carry before starting their journey, this also includes paper cutlery (not sure if that word exists) for dining.
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In case a passenger(you) intends to reach SC by an MMTS be mindful that MMTS from LPI to SC-FM stop on the KZJ end of PF-4 while MMTS from FM-SC/HYB/LPI stop at the HYB end of PF-7 and very very rarely on PF-10 or 6. This is usually the trend which almost never changes, keep this in mind and check your train’s regular PF for departure in the train column in this train and go for it. People intending to leave SC in an MMTS, same pattern for outbound trains they leave from where they stop.Local trains towards Malkajgiri-Bolarum-Medchal would usually be on 6-7 platforms but can rarely be allotted 8-10 also in peak times.
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OUTSIDE THE STATION:
PF-1 has 4 exits and PF-10 has 2 to leave the station, may are not aware of the 4th exit on PF-1 as its predominantly an entry, however if you are new to the city and trying to figure out how to reach an address mentioned in a message, here you go:
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Towards Shamirpet/Alwal/Risala Bazar buses start a bit further of alpha hotel outside PF-1 Exit, it would kinda be hell let loose outside SC at its peak traffic, its best if you ask someone but you can confidently exit through PF-1 if you need to go the above places and the few mentioned below.
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Towards Bowenpally/Balanagar/Kukatpally-KPHB/Miyapur/Lingampalli/Patancheru buses are available right next to the point where Shamirpet buses start.
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Towards Begumpet/Ameerpet/Jubilee Hills/Filmnagar/Hi-tec city/Kondapur/Khairtabad/Ranigunj/Koti/Abids/Nampally/Afzul Gunj/Charminar-right opposite to the station.
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Towards Padmarao nagar, RTC X roads, Kushaiguda, Women’s college(Koti), Dilsukhnagar, Lab Qts, Midhani, Ibrahimpatnam, Old city- At Rathifile bus stop beside(right) Secunderabad station upon exiting from PF-1.
Towards Malkajgiri/ECIL/ASC Center and east secunderabad- Opposite to Rathifile Towards Keyes High School (popular Land mark)
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In case you need to go towards Tarnaka, Uppal, Ghatkesar, Nagole,Dilsukhnagar, LB nagar or Ibrahimpatnam you need to exit through PF-10(bhoiguda Exit) and walk down to the main road where you will find the bus stand(if you didn’t manage to find it, ask for uppal bus stand as it is called there).
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Bus routes are easy to find, ask anyone around or just follow the route mentioned to reach the bus stand and you can find boards in enlish and telugu.
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Native Hyderbadi’s have no trouble speaking Urdu(or Hyderabadi to be precise), in case you know only English and Hindi you should not be having much of a trouble in most parts of the city. Knowing any other South Indian language (Except Kannada of course) won’t really help in Hyderabad as it is really far from all other southern states. This diversity perhaps is why we are called the Sub Continent.
People are really hospitable in Hyderabad; I hope this helps you a bit at least, if you are travelling to Hyderabad or to any other person who wishes to do so in the future. Happy travelling, thanks for reading!!

Trip to Kumbakonam
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Part 1:
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I was in chennai on 13th March 2013 for some personal work and however i came to know that i cant meet the person until 15th March 2013. On speaking to wife i was adivsed that i visit the Rahu temple at Thirunageswaram which is 6 kms from Kumbakonam Railway station. Wife , Son and me did visit this temple last year /blog/post/383735 . Without wasting anytime i tried for a tatkal in Mannai Express and what i got the was CKWL2 the number i fear the most. /blog/post/692908 . The ticket showed no signs of movement until charting was done around 6pm to give me a shocking...
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surprise of confirmed status. B1 21. So all set to Kumbakonam.. In the meanwhile IRI member and railfan Sivakumar Govindarajan said he is free and we could do a catch up.. Before packing i decided to book a SL ticket in Cholan Express for the return journey. /blog/post/692939 .
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Siva and i met near Ashok Pillar at 7.30 pm and we headed towards Nungambakkam station for some Railfanning and then to take a EMU to egmore to catch my train. We reached around 8.15 pm and went to the PF after taking 2 tickets to Chennai egmore. We went to the VLR straight to have some snacks and gulped Vada Sambar followed by coffee. We spoke a lot about trains and spotted couple of trains passing by. Siva is a hardcore railfan who notes down every loco he sees and is also updated with every rail info thats happening in the MAS divn. He gave me good insight on loco roaster in the south TN side as well. Since it was 9.15 Pm now i decided to take the next EMU to Egmore.
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To Be continued...

There is a station called Gooty hidden in a corner of big state of AP.
This place called GY, has one track northwards towards HYB, while in south , track splits into single lines towards YPR via DMM, and via Tadipatri towards Chennai..............................
The importance of this station can be gauged from the fact that Mumbai-Chennai lines and HYB-Bangalore line cross each other at this point.
--This falls under Guntakal Division of SCR, IR. The prestigious trains passing thro GY are :-
12627/12628
12785/12786
12649/12650
16529/16530
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12797/12798
12731/12732
12163/12164
besides many others....
A shed for BOXN wagons is major Rlys establishment at GY......besides home to the awesome GY shed WDPs, which are major work-horse for Karnataka (SWR), and Goa(Konkan) area besides AP.......
The most beautiful Locos........
Almost every time, 12650 transits thro' GY at very slow speed, mostly to cater for LPs, who travel as guest in WDP, and want to get down at GY.
A very distinguishable feature around GY is fast electrification work in progress, with lot of catenary around.....
PS:- There may be some mistakes in text error, but they are due to lack of knowledge than anything else, and corrections are most welcome
Thanks for reading thro'''''
Now some snaps from GY Jn....
Pic 1. Arrival at GY...a welcome by tinku and monster
Pic 2. Rly control room
Pic 3. 3 locos giving Royal welcome to the SWR princess, all in military fashion...
Pic 4. Time for reference while 12650 transits thro' GY..