My experience with mumbai locals this feb:-
I am in mumbai for personal work and for that I had to use the famous Mumbai Local Trains. In morning at around 7 I started for Borivali from CSTM. Took a ticket that costed Rs. - 15 ( Had I known about return ticket then, I would hav taken that) but no worry. After taking the ticket I entered the suburban section of CST and waited for Andheri/Bandra local so that there I can change for BVI. In mumbai I mostly try to use local that serves end to end for me. After a wait of a minute or so ( better to say a few seconds) the Andheri local showed...
more...

up from distance and slowly crawled into PF 2. Since it was early morning time and also towards suburbs, I easily got a window seat and after a TAT of around 5 mins the local started back for Andheri. As the train picked up speed a boy with a bag came running and boarded the train. And what he did afterwards was a bit scary. On every station he would rub his legs on PF as the train left the PF. And after crossing the PF as the train moved, he leaned forward and started to touch the plate on poles which is used to indicate pole number and distance. After he hit 2-3 boards his hand started bleeding. I could clearly see a cut between thumb and finger. But that guy still did the same all the way upto ADH. Don't know what happiness he got in it?? Had something bad happened then?? It passed through stations before finally meeting up with WR locals at Mahim. The display board in the coach showed next station and last station and also pointed an arrow towards direction of PF at next station. After stopping at all stations ( as it was a slow local) it finally entered Andheri. By the time train reached Andheri it had been occupied completely and almost good no. Of pax were waiting at ADH to board this again. At Andheri looked out for train going till Borivli and fortunately I didnt hav to change the PF. The CCG- BVI local arrived somewhat filled but many pax got down here so was able to get in easily. Journey till BVI was enjoyed by standing near the gate. After I finished my work in late afternoon, I reached BVI and saw for local train display boards. It mentioned an ADH local expected to arrive in 6 mins at PF 5 .And here I was at the farther end. I was like what the hell !! I queued up in the long queue and also kept seeing at the board. By the time I reached the window expected time had changed to 2 min and just as the ticket came in my hand it changed to 1 min. I looked out for FOB and rapidly climed up. From the FOB I saw it entering BVI. As I kept my foot on last step train had already halted. And in front of me I had a 1st class coach into which I couldn't get in. So I moved forward and as I stepped into coach train started moving. Lucky me. After passing a station a boy came and stood onto the gate. Beside him a person was sitting on floor. As the train was entering station, the person asked the boy "ये अन्धेरी है?" The boy replied "नहीं ये अन्धेरी नहीं है पर ये अन्धेरी है।" What he meant to say was that station was not Andheri but train was Andheri. The man looked perplexed and waited on his own. Finally after reaching ADH i boarded another CR local for CST and came back.
One Difference I found in CR & WR locals is that in CR locals they show arrow on display board indicating which side PF will come. And in WR locals also display board was there on which they indicate next station but it did not indicate the side of PF. So CR scores here above giving that precious piece of info for a new traveller in mumbai local.

Part 2 Pune - CST
Train 12124 Deccan Queen
So, after deboarding from 22846 Hatia - Pune SF 30 min late at 0315 hrs at PUNE, now it was second part to begin on the famous Deccan Queen. After getting down on PF3, as per the request of an IRI member looked at the coaches of 22846 and concluded that all SL coaches were new of SER except S1 which was of NR. After having a look now it was time for knowing the scheduled PF of 12124. No announcement, nothing on...
more...

display boards, it was best to ask to most reliable person, the coolies and vendors for PF of any train, eventhough IRI states it but they are more reliable. So I asked a vendor about 12124 and he replied PF 5. So went on to PF 5 to wait for the train. The PF at 0330 hrs was totally empty and somewhat I felt scared too. The Mumbai - chennai mail chugged into PF6 and many people got down. The GEN class became almost empty. One can easily find a place in GEN if he starts from Pune. After MAS mail departed, came the CSTM passenger on PF6. And simultaneously HTE- PUNE was being shunted to yard from PF 3. After about 30 minutes PUNE - SC shatabdi with upgraded swarna rake got shunted on PF5. The coaches and windows were very clean. As the passengers boarded shatabdi PF4 received Sinhagad exp to Mumbai. By the time of departure Shatabdi was almost 70-80 % filled, Anubhuti coach was pretty much empty with 10-15 pax, but CC had good patronage. On PF4 also people started occupying their seats in Sinhagad exp. The long hoot meant now it was time for departure and Shatabdi exp slowly rolled out of Pune towards Hyderabad. In a couple of minutes Sinhagad exp also started for Mumbai. At around 0620 Deccan Queen waa shunted on PF5. Some coaches were open and some were locked. The open coaches saw passengers rushing towards them. Since my D3 was locked, I along with some others waited outside. After 10-15 mins all coaches were obtained. After boarding placed the luggage below the seat and sat comfortably. Before DQ could depart, came 2 trains on PF3 and 4, HWH-PUNE Azad hind exp and Sahyadri Exp. DQ departed bang on time and gained speed with crossing pune suburbs at good speed. After passing Shivaji nagar, TTE came to check tickets and asked those passengers with GEN/MST to vacate the seats for reserved pax. TTE was pretty srrict regarding that and ensured every reserved passenger got his seat. Since my coach was D3, just near to Dining car, the smell of food would reach the nostrils before the food. The attendant took order of breakfast. And in next few mins they were giving away the breakfast to those who ordered. I had heard about great food of DQ and wanted try in Dining car but could not go due to luggage. No worries, the attendant ensured that if someone cannot come to Dining car, food can come to him. So they came with breakfast crate. I bought a veg breakfast costing Rs 30, which waa in an envelope. In the envelope there was a plate on which there were 2 cutlets, 2 bread and ketchup. I opened it and started eating. And I can say that the cutlets tasted yummy and there was good amount of butter on bread. By the time I finished train halted at Lonavla. And slowly meandering through Bhor ghats it entered the urban jungle Mumbai. The train skipped Kalyan and moved on. The train finally stopped at Dadar and train became 80% empty. Now it was time to enter CST. This was the first time I was entering CST via mainline. In the meantime Locals crossed and overtook our train. From Masjid the train speed came to super low and train crawled into CST. With rolling my luggage moved towards exit. There were lot of TTEs present and demanded tickets from everyone and verified. After verifying the tickets I moved on to the 3rd floor dormitory ( booked for 96 hrs) and had a good sleep of 4 hrs before venturing out.