started 4 mins late as 22857 SRC-ANVT SF was given precedence 1st.
2. RAJKHARSWAN --> Though on-board catering is not present , but the absence of local vendors surprised me. Beggers were coming in and were asking for money & as I had a SL/71 + a SU/72 we were the easy targets for them , but after a certain time u have to turn a deaf ear to them. Reached RKSN 20 mins late. People here mainly boarded GEN coaches and a few in the SL coaches. A few intermediate pax , seeing the seats empty at the entrance , came and sat there.
3. CHAIBASA --> Still no local vendors showed up. But people on board knew this & everybody had their lunch packed or bought from station. The train reached on pf 2 of Chaibasa , 17 mins late. Here a transgender also came and after giving him a 10rs note...he went away.. Here a lot of people boarded the General Coaches while a few boarded the Sleeper coaches , out of which only 3-5 boarded mine.
4. Dangoaposi -> Still no local vendors were there. You can see the work of tripling going on at full swing before approaching DPS. We entered here 31 mins late as were made to wait at outer for a long time as the pf at DPS was taken up by 12022 BBN - HWH JS. At DPS , you could find some stalls selling snacks ( like Samsosa , Aloo Chop etc .. ) so if you want to deboard u can quickly deboard and grab your snacks. Over here many General Pax deboarded and the same amount boarded too. Here many boarded the Sleeper Class too.. Hardly any seat was vacant now in my coach ( S8 ).
5. Banspani --> Post Pada Pahar you will branch off from BARBIL/GUA route. From here on u will encounter trains initiating huge curves , train going b/w the two hills , which u can see clearly - as the curves here are so big and scenic - you will feel that the train is just bisecting the hills with the sun going down and it's last rays just add the extra beauty to that time. Post this station u will see a huge mines area. Arrived here 35 mins late . A huge number of people boarded the Sleeper classes. Still there was no sign of any local vendors here.
6. NAYAGARH --> Post Jaroli you will see that no matter whichever sim you are using , you will hardly find any signal here. Train will just crawl till it reaches Nayagarh as it initiates huge curves at a height . No pax ( gen or reserved ) boarded here. The station was a complete dark one ( don't know whether it was due to power failure or what ). Though the halt was 10 mins , but we departed after a 2 mins stop. Here 2-3 tea-sellers boarded..So if you are traveling in it and need a tea in the evening.. this was the only option. 1-2 vendors selling water bottles also boarded here. After going for about 5 Kms from here... U will once again find signal in your phones.
7. KENDUJHARGARH --> Reached here 47 mins late. This station had two shops selling food items on pf 1 , so as soon as the train halted people flocked around these shops. So if you are hungry this is the only station to grab a bite. Significant amount of People boarded & deboarded here. Just one thing , there is no shops on pf 2/3 , so in case the train arrives here you will be deprived of buying any food items ( don't know whether any trains are given pf 2/3 )
8. HARICHANDANPUR --> 5-10 people boarded here. Reached here 54 mins late. Slowly the delay was increasing. Again this station had no local vendors and no one had come either to take dinner order.
9. SUKINDA ROAD --> Delay increased here to 1.04 hrs. The tea seller had disappeared. Only the one selling water bottles showed up now and then.
10 JAKHAPURA - 55 mins late here. No one significantly boarded here. People going to Jajpur Keonjhar Road can easily deboard here , as many did. From here a local vendor selling Biryani ( Veg & Egg ) showed up . So if you are without ur dinner you shud buy it from him
11. CUTTACK - Reached here 1.14 hrs late. Though it's a big station but all the shops on pf 4/5 were closed as it was post 10 here. Many people deboarded here. Only a small amount boarded. People boarding from Cuttack should know that the announcement in Hindi & English is done like Tatanagar Jn - Vishakapatnam Special , but the odia announcement is Tatanagar - Vishakapatnam Superfast Exp. You can also expect a schedule overtake from 12665 HWH-CAPE SF on your way to CTC .
12. MANCHESWAR --> This is totally waste of a halt. No one boarded/deboarded here. The station was devoid of any passengers. Though the stop was decided to make sure people of Bhubaneswar staying in nearby places can get off here , but at this time of the day there will be no auto/cabs coming here to pick you. So it's better not to deboard here , if you want to go to the place nearby , instead deboard at Bhubaneswar
13. BHUBANESWAR - 1.15 hrs late. A good no of pax boarded the SL & AC coaches while many deboarded from SL. If you are deboarding here you can find plenty of shops for your dinner.
Some pics of my journey -
/blog/post/3951813/blog/post/3954426 