A journey in 12817, Jharkhand Swarn Jayanti, from Prayagraj Junction to Anand Vihar Terminal.

I booked the sole AVL ticket minutes before it went to WL12, got a middle berth in B1. But lady luck once again worked in my favor and my whole cabin was vacant. Off to a sour start, my cab canceled the very last minute. And I reached the station just a few minutes before train's arrival, even though it was late.
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As soon as the train reached Bamhrauli, fog thickened and the train started crawling. I was weary, so I went to sleep. I woke up when the train was crossing Jhinjhak/NCR, now running almost 2.5 hours late.

We were taken on loop line at Samhon/NCR, to be overtaken by 22415, Varanasi Vande Bharat. /blog/post/6427176 With fog still covering the tracks, the train crawled further to Bharthana/NCR, again to be overtaken by 82501, Lucknow Tejas.

The train further crawled to Etawah and halted at PF-2, now running almost 4 hours late. It did a constant 110kmph run till Tundla outers, where it was detained for almost 45 minutes. Halted again at Tundla to let some empty rake proceed ahead.

After Tundla, sun was shining bright, and the train did a constant 130kmph run till Dadri/NCR, where it was detained just before an open LC gate for another. The gate was closed only to let Ranchi Rajdhani cross. After half an hour we proceeded, only to be detained again at Maripat/NCR.

The train slowly reached Ghaziabad, having a xing with Dibrugarh Rajdhani, Bhubaneswar Rajdhani, Varanasi Vande Bharat and Lichchavi Express. We halted at GZB and a lot of passengers deboarded there. Till Hindon, speeds were good, then it got detained before Sahibabad.

A MEMU and an NMG overtook us before getting clearance. Finally we reached ANVT with a delay of 5.5 hours. Surprisingly, even after being detained so much, only train that overtook us between PRYJ-GZB were BSB Vande Bharat and LJN Tejas.

1. GMO WAP-7, 37041 bringing up the train on PF-3 of PRYJ.

2. Small TB of my coach.

3. Rake No. 13 of Kumbh special parked at Achalda/NCR.

4. Morning fog over NCR.

5. Ajni WAG-9H, 32501 parked with Rake No. 60 of Kumbh special at Samhon.

6. Unscheduled halt at ETW.

7. Our train looped at Bharthana/NCR.

8. Tracks diverging towards Saifai and Mainpuri.

9. EMUs parked at the Ghaziabad Carshed.

10. Dusk approaches as a MEMU overtakes us. Seen in background is the RRTS corridor.

11. Prayagraj Junction at night. A MEMU and three EMDs make the backdrop.

12. CNB WAG-9H, 32256 with a BTPN consist at Dadri yard.

Kumud.