+++++++++++++++++BIRTHDAY SPECIAL TRAVELOGUE++++++++++++++++++++
On occasion of birthday of one of my favorite train, I would like to post the trip report of final leg of my Katra trip.
Part 1: [/blog/post/2333348(blog|/blog/post/2333348(blog] got deleted :( )
Part 2: /blog/post/2347641
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3: /blog/post/2398803
3rd June, 2017
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After a 12 hour journey from a peaceful, sparsely populated, wide platform 1 of Katra railway station, we were standing on a chaotic, choked, narrow platform sandwiched between a terminating train in Sri Shakti AC express and a passing train in Paschim express. Somehow we managed to drag ourselves out of the platform and once again headed towards platform 1. Contrasting to 3 days back experience, even the clockroom had a long queue for deposit of luggage. Once we completed the formalities, we had early lunch at the refreshment room. To kill the time, we decided to head towards India Gate and started walking over foot over bridge, crossing all the busy platforms and entered New Delhi metro station.
A small ride till Central Secretariat, and we were there, standing between India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhawan. Climate wasn’t the same as it was 3 days back. The desperate showers were once again displaced by the wrath of blazing sun. Temperature was clicking 45, hence we decide to sit under the shades and spend time. Just then, came the much awaited message. After being in RAC till last moment, we received the post chart confirmation message. Hurray, got confirmed for all. Oh wait, look at the allocation!!! HA1 9, A1 6, A1 8. All three scattered:(. Finally at 1:30PM, we returned to Central Secretariat station and headed towards New Delhi.
After spending some time sitting in Air Conditioned surrounding at New Delhi metro we entered the railway station from Ajmeri gate side. On entering we packed Poori and Subzi from IRCTC outlet on platform 16 and moved towards clockroom on platform 1. The view from the foot over bridge clearly stated that Delhi is ready with departures of Rajdhanis. Dibrugarh Rajdhani and Ranchi Rajdhani were already standing on platform 16 and 15 respectively while Ajni WAP7 which was used for inaugural run of AJNI-PUNE AC express with garlands still hanging on it, brought the rake of Bilaspur Rajdhani on platform 13. Kanpur Shatabdi was on platform 10 and Mumbai Central Rajdhani was getting shunted on platform 3. The Specialfare AC special bound to Mumbai was getting ready to for departure from platform 1. While we were walking towards clockroom on platform 1 a frustrated TTE literally yelled on a group of passengers saying “How many times I have to say you, this is not Mumbai Rajdhani express, can’t you people understand!!!”. Don’t know how many times they asked the same question to him, but the frustration on his face was quite evident.
Train: 12724 Telangana express
Source: New Delhi
Destination: Secunderabad JN
After taking our luggage, we headed on to platform 4 and 5 to board our train for final leg of the trip. There was no place on platform to keep a foot as it was supposed to hold passengers of both Telangana express and Paschim express. At 4:45PM WAP4 22315 from Kanpur brought the rake of Magadh express to its destination on platform 3. The stabling line between platform 5 and 6 which was first occupied by Karnataka express was replaced by Vaishali express. While Magadh express was yet to halt completely, Vadodara’s WAP4 22353 brought the much awaited rake of Paschim express on to platform 5. Within 10 minutes came the white stallion Lalaguda’s WAP7 30260 with the rake of Telangana express on to platform 4. First task was to look for seat adjustment, but after entering the coach, I realized that every group in the train wanted to do adjustments. So many RAC and Waiting list passengers along with large groups were there that by the time we all settled, we were approaching Gwalior where we ended up getting 2,3 and 4 in A1.
Back to present, TTE was covered by passengers like bees around a flower and he was with clear cut answer, “No way will you be getting any seat today, whole train is jam packed and I have to first clear RAC if possible”. We had an on time departure and by the time we crossed Pragati Maidan and WAP7 was gaining speed. Hazrat Nizamuddin was skipped at good speed and other suburban stations were cleared at MPS. It was MPS show all the way till Palwal, where we had a brief unscheduled halt. After resuming the speed, we were again belting stations at MPS and crossed Gatimaan at Hodal. While the train was busy burning tracks, a small incident happened. A small kid feeling vomiting sensation tried to reach the wash basin, but failed in doing so and vomited right on the door, making the passage dirty. Following that, I immediately opted to use “CLEAN MY COACH” service. After making a request, a member from cleaning staff and his junior rushed from B4 coach side towards HA1. On stopping him and asking him to clean the passage, he gave a hurried reply “Sir, there is a request from HA1 coach. I will complete the task and immediately come here”, and rushed towards HA1 like a mad bull. In mean time, mother of the child took the responsibility and cleaned majority part of passage. After good 10 minutes, the cleaning staff member came with a puzzled look and asked his junior to clean the passage. Following conversation took place:
Staff member: Sir. Someone from HA1 seat No. 9 made a complaint. After going there, no one was there!!!
Me: Have a look at other seats in PNR.
Member: Oh. A1 6 and 8!!!
Me: Where are you standing now?
Member: In A1 near seat 5 and 6.
Me: Did you get the point??
Member: *after scratching head* Sorry sir, mistake hogaya.
Me: Kabhi insaan ka baath sun liya karo!!!
While his junior was busy cleaning and spraying perfume, he generated OTP as part of process. Looking at the considerable delay between the request and OTP generation, his manager called him and started taking his toll. After hearing to nonstop scolding from his manager for nearly 10 minutes, he disconnected the call and completed the formalities and said “Mera boss bahut adiyal hai. Dimaag kharaab kar diya”. “Isiliye tho vo boss hai” was my spontaneous reply. With a dejected look he left. Even though I preferred to see the lighter side of the incident, those two cleaning staff members were really disappointed with what happened with them. After crossing Bhuteshwar at good speed, we halted at Mathura outer before time. After killing some time at outer, we entered Mathura and departed after gaining good 12 minutes delay. Similar pattern was continued in Mathura-Agra stretch as well, covered the delay and was on time till Bilochpura Agra and again halted in outer and entered Agra with a delay of 11 minutes. After a 6 minutes halt, we departed from Agra, crossing a WAP7 led passenger simultaneously. Post Agra it was constant MPS run and the packed dinner was relished. The Poori and aloo suzi tasted well and it was worth the money. While we were cruising through the small stretch of Rajasthan and heading towards Gwalior, I decided to call it for the day and jumped on to my upper berth.
4th July, 2017
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After a sound sleep, when I woke up we were skipping Itarsi at slowest of the possible speed. While the elders in the lower berths were still sleeping, I climbed the upper berth and slept again. After another spell of sleep when I got down, we were skipping Kalamba at MPS. After a brief slowdown at Katol, WAP7 again accelerated hard and skipped Sonkhamb and Kohli at MPS. After a brief MPS run we slowed down yet again to skip Kalmeshwar through the loop. This start stop kind of MPS run looked like order of the day as every station enroute was occupied by freight. After skipping Godhani, we crawled, stopped and again crawled and entered Nagpur with a delay of 16 minutes. Platform 3 was occupied by Raigarh bound Gondwana express which was leading us all the way till Nagpur. While Gondwana was involved in reversal, 22642 WAP4 from Lalaguda brought Delhi bound Dakshin express on to platform 1. We purchased breakfast from platform vendor which was 2 plates of idly, vada with sambhar. Each plate costing 40 rupees consisted of 2 pieces of vada and 3 pieces of idly. Once Gondwana departed, Howrah bound Azad Hind occupied platform 3. After Azad Hind coming to a halt, we immediately got the starter. The run pattern post Nagpur was similar to pre Nagpur run. The volume of freight was abnormally high on that day. Gumgaon was negotiated through loop and after thrashing Buti Bori at MPS, we again entered the loop at Borkhedi. After completely coming out of the loop of Borkhedi, we were halted on mainline. After departing and accelerating hard, we entered the loop of Sindhi again and notched up MPS. Delay was casually increasing and while skipping Tuljapur at MPS, we crossed Delhi bound Grand Trunk express which was overtaking Kazipet-Ajni passenger and just a few minutes later crossed a WAG7 hauled train. The scene was evident that controllers are having a big task out there. After negotiating Sewagram curve at 11:30AM, we were stopped at Chitoda. After Chitoda, we obtained MPS and did a constant MPS run till Hinganghat before crossing TamilNadu express and some other train. At Hinganghat, a Gomoh WAG9 with BCNA rake crossed us before we were overtaken by Bengaluru bound Rajdhani express. Post overtake, we enjoyed the clearance of Rajdhani all the way till our next halt Chandrapur and crossed Delhi bound counterpart at Vivekananda Nagar as well as some freight rakes in the process. At Chandrapur, we crossed Delhi bound Bengaluru Rajdhani which was busy chasing Delhi bound Telangana express. After crossing and overtaking couple of freight rakes, we entered platform 3 of Balharshah. Indore bound Ahilya Nagari was standing on platform 4. We purchased 2 plates of standard meals and a plate of idly vada from platform vendor. Standard meal was for 50 rupees which consisted of 2 rotis, aalo subzi, dal and rice while idly vada plate was same as we brought at Nagpur. Just before departing, Yeshwantpur- Delhi Sarai Rohilla AC duronto entered platform 1 and at Balharshah outer we crossed Karnataka Sampark Kranti express.
After looking at the run Central Railways, I was sure that the same or even worse will be continued in South Central Railway zone also. After departing from Balharshah, I decided to keep a count on loop skips in the home zone. As expected I wasn’t disappointed in this point, as we skipped Wirur through loop making the score 1. After Wirur we had a smooth run till Sirpur town where we scored our next point. 2 points already scored before the first halt in home state!!! Sirpur Kaghaznagar was dealt with the delay of 30 minutes. A flat bed carrying rails was occupying the mainline, but since it is a scheduled halt, the loop score remained 2. The LED display boards on other platform were displaying 12791 and as expected we crossed Secunderabad-Danapur express on the outer immediately after departure. After dealing Ralapet, Asifabad road and Repalliwada through mainline, Rechni road took the honour of making the loop score as 3. After negotiating regular halt at Bellampalli, score got incremented to 4 as we cruised through the loop of Mandamari and crossed Kerala express in the process. After Mandamari, 3rd operating line was visible and had an MPS crossing with Secunderabad-Bikaner LHB special hauled by chocolate colored WAG5. By the time we departed from Mancherial, the delay increased to 45 minutes.
At Mancherial outer we crossed Chennai Central Rajdhani heading at good pace towards national capital. The ballast and sleeper works were going on between Mancherial and Peddampet. After crossing Godavari river, we crossed Secunderabad-Hazrat Nizamuddin Duronto express hauled by Lalaguda’s first white stallion WAP7 30237. By the time we departed from Ramagundam, delay increased from 40 minutes to 55 minutes. With schedule averaging 70 from Ramagundam to Kazipet, I had very little hopes of covering this delay before our next halt. We made the score of 5 at Kottapally, 6 at Jammikunta and 7 at Hasanparti road, sandwiched between MPS and some TSRs and were finally halted before Wadepally lake at Komatipally. After waiting patiently for 15 minutes, we crossed a freight rake coming from Waranagal side and started moving towards Kazipet slowly. At Kazipet Town Vijayawada WAG7 twins with 28365 in lead and Tuglakabad WAG9 31212 was waiting for clearance towards Balharshah with freight rakes. That scene was enough to say why freight got preference earlier.
We were welcomed to Kazipet JN by Itarsi WAP4 and a Lalaguda WAP7 30407. Krishna express was already waiting on platform 3 to get overtaken by us with Lalaguda WAP7 30312 in lead. We departed from Kazipet with more than an hour delay after Bhagyanagar express with Alco twins entered platform 1 for loco change and crossed WAP4 hauled Satavahana express at outer, which was waiting for platform. After doing MPS action for 40 minutes, we negotiated the heavy TSR at Raghunathapalli and scored 8th loop at Jangaon which turned out to be the ultimate one for the day. From there on till Pagidipalli, we cruised at constant high speed and crossed Godavari express hauled by WAP4 at Aler. At Pagidipalli, once after Narayanadri express switched towards single diesel line, we got the starter and there was no looking back after that. After doing MPS run till Charlapalli, we cruised towards our destination with decent pace. Passengers were getting restless and started packing their bags even before we crossed Moula Ali by-pass cabin. After crossing the pitlines where the lone rake of Manuguru express was undergoing maintenance, we entered platform 8 of Secunderabad JN at exactly 8PM, marking an end to yet another exciting trip.
Finally after traveling nearly 4650 kilometers on tracks for 6 days 5 nights, out of which 4 nights were spent riding on rails and one night walking down the majestic Trikuta parvat, it was time to take the desperate sleep so that I can get back to the boring routine and start the Monday with some gained energy.
Thanks to members of IRI for reading this long trip post with eternal patience. Hope you like previous three installations also.
Final note: For a railfan, there is always one such train, which gives you unforgettable moments to cherish and Telangana express is one such train for me. Whether it is to attend a life setting interview or a family trip, whether a solo railfanning trip or a group trip with college friends, AP/Telangana express was always there for me. Many happy returns of the day to my dear Telangana(erstwhile AP) express and keep going fast and strong with your relentless service.