TRIP REPORT :-
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CBE
Yesterday, I travelled by this train to Chennai after a short visit to Coimbatore. The train was supposed to arrive @ PF4 of CBE. The moment I reached PF4... 'hissss... poom poom...chug chug chug...'. I turned around and noticed a GOC WDG3A (green) shunting with the rake of 22476 Coimbatore Bikaner Express towards PF5. Between PF2 and PF3,...
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11 coaches of Nilgiri Express (CBE part) were parked. At some distance away from Nilgiri's rake but on the same track I noticed an EMD (WDP4 20003) and a WAP7. At 14.10, 12243 Shatabdi arrived with a mighty RPM WAP7 at its helm. I started walking towards coach C4. The coach seemed to be okay, better than some other coaches. Then CBE MTP passenger arrived @ PF3 behind a WDG3A. Till 14.45, no passenger was allowed to enter the coach. While getting bored, I paced up and down the platform. 12676 Kovai PF2 with ED WAP4 22904. The door of the coach opened. Crowd gathered. Boarded the train. The coach from the inside seemed to be okay, yet a bit shabby and lacked cleanliness. But there were hardly any cockroaches in my coach (C4). The cooling of the air conditioners wasn't adequate.
MTP passenger left and 16326 Ahilyanagari Express arrived with ED's red bull @ PF3. At 15.20, the train started moving out of CBE.
ONBOARD SHATABDI
As soon as Shatabdi moved out, it maintained an ordinary pace till Coimbatore North. The moment it left Coimb,atore North, something seemed to have 'bitten' the WAP7. Within moments, Shatabdi started cruising at 110 km/h. It slowed down a bit at Irugur. But no problems. It gained speed almost immediately after leaving Irugur. The train maintained speeds ranging between 106-114 km/h till Tiruppur outer.
Meanwhile, snacks were offered in the train... laddoo, samosa, coffee,... The train reached Tiruppur bang on time.There was a long freight to which a WDG4 was getting attached. After leaving Tiruppur WAP7 accelerated like EMU and the train was overspeeding! My GPS data showed the max. speed 122 km/h!!! I believe there was an error in the GPS data. The max error can be as much as 5 km/h. The train must have been cruising at 117 km/h which is a very good speed. The train crossed late running Tata Alleppey Express near Tiruppur, hauled by a WAP4. The entire rake was literally shaking when WAP7 accelerated like that! After that it maintained 105-110 km/h.
Then Mr. White Beast slowed down, negotiated a curve and entered PF1 of Erode at 16.45. The train stopped there for 10 minutes and accelerated out.Spotted a BCNA freight with twin WAG5 Soon, 16339 Mumbai Nagercoil Express crossed Shatabdi with an ED WDM3D. The train crossed Kaveri river at a sedate speed. WAP7 again displyed its trademark acceleration soon.
Shatabdi overtook an unknown at Anangur. Soon afterwards it crossed Trichy Palakkad Passenger. It kept cruising till Salem, where it reached on time.At Salem, I managed to spot a WDM3D-led unknown train at Salem. The train stopped for 5 minutes at Salem. After leaving Salem, it zipped past many hillocks enroute.It started overspeeding again, touching 118 km/h (according to GPS data). At Buddireddipatti, 12695 MAS TVC Superfast Express was spotted, hauled by a WAP7. By that time,it was getting darker and darker. Shatabdi maintained 108-110 km/h. At around 19:10, the train reached Jolarpettai. It skipped Jolarpettai at a moderate speed. Hot and delicious tomato soup was being served. I felt sleepy and slept off for a while. When I woke up (at 20:12), I found Shatabdi skipping Katpadi at around 90 km/h, which is an unusual way of skipping a major junction.The skip was quite exciting and probably one of the best moments of the journey. At AJJ outer it was made to halt for sometime. It was the first unscheduled halt of the journey. Maybe because of EMUs. The train skipped AJJ at around 21:00. At that time, dinner was being served. The quality of dinner was decent. I slept off yet again after having dinner. When I woke up, Shatabdi was skipping Avadi at MPS. It maintained that momentum till Annanur, where it had to decelerate.Nilgiri was spotted near Avadi hauled by a WAP4.Shatabdi reached Perambur Carriage Works at an average speed, where it halted again. After about 2 min, it accelerated, skipped Perambur and again stopped at Vyasarpadi. By that time, I had lost hoped of reaching Chennai on time. It stopped yet again near BBQ (for platform clearance). Spotted Cheran express, hauled by WAP4. As Shatabdi proceeded towards Chennai, I noticed a LHB Rajdhani rake hauled by a WAM4. Not sure which train it was! WAP7 graciously entered PF7 of MAS at 22.25 (10 min late). Spotted ED WAP4 22259 with 12840 Howrah Mail at PF8.
MAS
Spotted Kovai with ED WAP4 22904 standing @ adjacent platform.
PERSONAL OPINION
The journey was pretty good.WAP7 made the journey entertaining with its great acceleration and deceleration. It was literally toying with that rake. IR should change the coaches ASAP as the coaches are really old and shabby. Coaches are dirty. Food seems to be okay.
RATINGS
Speed : 10/10 (Awesome speed throughout the journey)
Punctuality : 9/10 (Reached Chennai outer on time, got delayed in Chennai)
Cleanliness : 4/10 (It seems as if SR has become a dump-yard of old rakes of many Rajdhanis and Shatabdis. Coaches were very old and dirty. Cockroaches (few, but still present), water leak in toilets, poor maintenance, cracked window panes, broken book holder, etc were some of the key issues).
Food : 9/10 (Quite good)