Kochuveli-Mumbai LTT Garib Rath/12202

Part 2:
At sharp 20.05 hours, arrival of 12202 KCVL LTT GR @ PF 2 was announced, meaning it was running 20 minutes before schedule, thanks to its slack between KGQ n MAJN. We had barely made it to the staircase; than we heard a heavy chugging noise of the loco (I missed it then and kept guessing for some time). GR glided slowly and made its halt into PF 2. Once we got down at PF 2, we had to walk briskly to the length of the PF before we could board our coach.
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Once we settled in, I took the extra inning moments to check the loco. Alas !! It was fullto dark, I couldn’t even see where the PF...
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ended. MAJN is a big station and it urgently deserves some good facilities like Platform sheds, Platform lights, Coach indicators and not to mention Refreshment cafeterias.
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Today GR was looking strange !!! It had a Duronto liveried EOG. As the started turned yellow at sharp 20:40, I went back to my seat. Not again !!! All seats in our part of the coach was facing away from the loco; opposite to the train movements.
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Loco was doing great, it was just speeding up and gliding madly. Meanwhile seeing the Vestibule section open, I tried to check the EOG cum Disabled coach of the GR. There was a small room kind of some 60 sqft, where I couldn’t spot any Disabled persons travelling and after that the attendant was sleeping in a small passage that led to the Generators operating unit, which the attendant didn’t allow.
I retraced by footsteps back to our coach and saw that GR was slowing down to a halt, somewhere on the single line section awaiting a clear signal. It was matter of few minutes in which GR swooped back into action and arrived at Udupi a few minutes late. The entry into PF 1 of Udupi was at some 60+ speed which was brought to a halt at the indicated mark. Udupi had better lighting and I hastily went to the loco to see the link. Here it was ERS WDM 3A # 14123 the usual link that was hauling out GR for the day.
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To be continued……….

PART 3:
The LP saw me taking a closer look and looked quizzingly. I said, I was checking the loco link and even provided him with info that ERS WDM 3A is the regular link it gets to which he replied that though this loco was the link, it sometimes changes last minute depending upto the loco that arrives with the other train. I presume he was talking about loco RSAs here. I asked him the speed and he said, he will take it at 110 kmph upto MAO which was his destination.
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After GR wound its way out of UD, I was checking for some empty berth in nearby 3A coach which was already packed to capacity. The maintenance of the...
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rake is not upto the mark. From the look, it didn’t seem to be POHed recently. Spotted some cracked window panes, rubber of the Glass door worn off and in most cases, the curtains were jammed. In our coach , the coach indicator installed near the door was not working (God knows, for what they were installed). It after all marked a perfect GARIB RATH. It was just like visiting a colony where GARIB people reside with the only remarkable difference that it was Centralized AC. Even SL coaches are better maintained.
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I came back to my seat and noticed a few seats were empty. So from cramped 3 x 3 seats we relaxed ourselves to 2x 2 in the seats and soon with the tiredness dozed off. Meanwhile our GR was just speeding hazily. After an hour or two, I woke up to see we have skipped many stations in Dakshin Karnataka. I went to the foot board and our train was just screeching to an unscheduled halt at Murudeshwar. GR was running around 15 mins late. The Shiva temple and its lighted Gopuram can be clearly seen in the dark background. LP who had come down to attend his nature call, spotted me at the door and asked “abi tak soye nahi kya?”. I said, I will be alighting in an hour’s time and hence ok.
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We had halted at Murudeshwar for crossing of Netravati Express, which was running an hour behind schedule. Once we got a clear go ahead signal and the WDM unleashed its beast within as if to cover up its lost time. The aggressive run by the beastie ensured we reached Madgaon dot on time @ 01.20 hours. LPs changed their duties. After a brief halt of about 10 minutes, GR left MAO. I was hoping that is soon reaches its next station – our destination so that I can have a good sleep at home as I had to report to work next day. But nothing happens as we plan.
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GR left swiftly from Madgaon and reached Verna where it was given an unscheduled halt for a crossing. We waited and waited and waited for around 20 minutes still there was no sign of the train. Finally after half an hour, Mangalore bound Matsyagandha Express hauled by a WDP/G went speeding by. I was in no mood to shoot it, though the speed was awesome.
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Finally, GR started for our last run to our destination station and reached around 40 minutes late. We got down at Karmali, walked almost half the length of platform and made our way to home. We reached home around 3.30am. I was wondering, had we got down at Madgaon, we could very well had reached home 45 mins early – an 45 minutes of extra sleep in my warm cozy bed……. I don’t remember when I drifted off to sleep….

Punctuality; 7/10
Coach condition: 4/10
Speed: 9/10

SR especially TVC division has severe AC coach shortages. Over the months, passengers who had booked tickets in AC coaches had to travel in sleeper coaches on two occasions, with the latest incident occurring on January 10. Authorities had replaced the AC 2 tier and 3 tier coaches in Netravati Express on the day. Similarly, an AC coach on the Kerala Express was replaced with a sleeper coach on December 27. Last week it was in Mangala Express. Last month Netravati Express ran without Pantry car.
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Official explanation for the above....."The AC coaches were replaced after noticing some problems in them. We were forced to replace them with sleeper coaches due to lack of spare coaches," an official said.
The last minute...
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replacement of AC coaches has ensued heated arguments between passengers and railway authorities. In both the occasions passengers repeatedly pulled safety chains in order to protest against railway's decision. Passengers of the Netravati Express blocked the train when it reached Shoranur station .
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Railway sources said the coaches sent for maintenance to Chennai had not been returned on several occasions, aggravating the issue.
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The recent words of TVC DM.............The coach position is getting back to normal and steps have been taken to ensure their upkeep, Thiruvanathapuram Divisional Railway Manager Rajesh Agarwal assured. “The Thiruvananthapuram Division is not an outhouse of other divisions (in Southern Railway). We must get back each coach that is sent to Chennai for periodic repairs,” he said.