Cheran Express/12674

MY TRIP IN 12674 CHERAN EXPRESS FROM COIMBATORE JN TO CHENNAI CENTRAL
FROM: Coimbatore Junction
TO: Chennai Central
DOJ: 09/01/2013
CLASS OF TRAVEL: Sleeper
FARE: Rs. 242
LOCO: ED WAP 4
I had a trip in 12674 Cheran Superfast Express from Coimbatore to Chennai Central on 09/01/2013. I along with my uncle reached the station around 21.50 hours. There were continuous announcements for the my train stating that my train would leave from platform number 2 at 22.20 hours. We immediately headed to platform 2 after getting...
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a platform ticket for my uncle from the cloak room. The subway lead us to the platform. The coach S 11 was positioned at the place where the passengers enter the platform. Mine was S 1 coach. So had to walk a long way towards the front for my coach. This gave me a chance to examine the train. As S 11 was the fourth coach from the last I could estimate the maintenance of the entire train ( I had a look at the ac coaches and UR coaches in front of my coach at Chennai Central). Now coming to the maintenance part I was fully disappointed. All the coaches were bit old while few were very old and one or two new coaches. Whatever is the age of the coach there was a uniformity in maintenance. I would rate the maintenance of coaches to be very bad for majority of the coaches and terrible for few. The coaches were very dirty and not pleasing. We both reached my S 1 coach. I settled down in my seat ( No.39, SLB). Ah a SLB! Whats more needed for a railfan? I was happy as the system allotted me a SLB. I thought I would get a UB. The RAC movement ended up with a sweet seat allocation. It was 22.00 hours and my uncle bid goodbye to me and left for his home. Now I was looking at the surroundings and evaluating it. The coach’s maintenance was really bad. The floor was very dirty. It looked like a coat of black paint was applied on the blue floor. The seats as expected were bit dirty too. The coach was old and had many ticketless travellers in the form of bugs. The coach was basically meant for TATKAL quota. Though I was happy to get a SLB I was too tired for railfanning as I had a busy day. I wanted to sleep but my height demands for a long berth, not the side berths for a comfortable sleep. The stars were on my side! A middle aged lady asked me if I could move on to her UB. I agreed the offer and said her that I would go after he train leaves. She accepted with a smile. Announcements were made for the Kanyakumari- Bangalore Island Exp to arrive on Pf 3 at 22.45 hours, Chennai- Coimbatore Intercity SF exp to arrive on pf 1 at 22.15 hours and the Chennai-Trivandrum SF Exp to arrive on pf 1 at 23.05 hours. The clock ticked 22.15 hours, I eagerly waited for Intercity but it was not seen. The construction activities on the platform ensured that I could not have a clear view of the platform 1. It was 22.20 now. At 22.21 hours my train moved with a loud horn, late by 1 minute. We crossed the Intecity at the Coimbatore Jn home signal while it was stationary. We crawled past the city and crawled through Coimbatore North Junction. Then I gave my berth to the lady and went to the wash basin to wash my face. Much to add to the woes of the shabby coach there was no water supply. Apart from these the coach was also filled with lots of waiting list passengers occupying the floor near the doors. Then I came back and went to the UB. I remember crossing the Chennai- Trivandrum SF Express in another 15-20 minutes. Then I slept off. I woke up when we were waiting at the Tiruppur station home signal. Around 23.40 we reached Tiruppur. Quite a good number of people boarded here. Announcements were made for the Chennai- Mangalore Central SF Exp to arrive in another few minutes. I slept off even before we started. Then I woke when we were at Salem outer to get back to sleep in less than a minute. Again the same process was repeated at Katpadi. When I woke up at 05.50 hours the next morning we were cruising past the city of Chennai at MPS! The suburban station of Pataravakkam, Korattur, etc were thrown into pieces and the scilence was shattered. Many people waited at the doors and gangway to get down at the soon to reach Perambur station. I settled down in a vacant SLB. We slowed down and crossed Villivakkam at snail’s pace. Here only I noticed that we were on the slow line instead of the fast line. We crawled all the way upto Perambur. We reached Perambur a liitle after 06.00 am and left by 06.05 am. We again sarted our slow run and crossed the Chennai- Mysore Shatabdi at Vyasarpadi Jeeva. Shatabdi looked great. Then we came to a stop before Basin Bridge and around 06.25 the Chennai- Coimbatore Kovai SF Exp crossed. After the Kovai SF Exp crossed we started the ultimate lap of our journey. We slowly crossed Basin Bridge junction. At Basin Bridge we crossed the super crowded Bangalore- Guwahati SF Exp and crossed the majestic Basin Bridge yard. Here I spotted Royapuram Loco Shed’s new babes- the WAP 7s. Suddenly emerged the Chennai Central- Tirupati Saptagiri Exp. We switched over from slow line to main line while crossing the Sapthagiri Exp. Meanwhile we overtook a Chennai central EMU. After Sapthagiri crossed I spotted the new Delhi- Chennai Grand Trunk SF Exp just preceeding before us and entering a platform of Chennai Central. Ah if we were two minutes earlier we would have had a parallel action from Basin Bridge to Chennai Central. Then at last came the shunter with the empty rake of Mangalore- Chennai Mail. Spotted it just before entering the magnificent Central station of Chennai. We pulled into the platform number 10 of Chennai Central at 06.37 hours, 2 minutes behind schedule. The crowd in the jam packed Coromandel Express welcomed us from the adjacent platform. Now it was time for me to examine the coaches which were in front of mine. Except for B 3 all other coaches were very dirty and old only. The unreserved coaches were shabby too. Even before the people from Cheran SF Exp came out of the platform the unreserved coaches were filled with the Navjeevan SF Express’s passengers.
Then I came out and took the subway to the Park station where two long queues to get tickets greeted me. After waiting for ten minutes in the line the third counter was opened to clear the rush. I got the ticket from the new counter in another five minutes. In the meantime the Chennai Egmore- Dadar SF Exp crossed. Then I took a Chengalpet bound EMU to head to my house in Pallavaram. On the way to Pallavaram I spotted the Kanyakumari- Chennai Egmore SF Exp between Kodambakkam and Mambalam, the Sengottai- Chennai Egmore Pothigai SF Exp near Guindy and the Tuticorin- Chennai Egmore Pearl City SF Exp just before Pallavaram. I got down at pallavram where my dad picked me to my home. Thus my trip came to an end.
Thanks for reading.