Trip report- MYS Shatabdi- 10.09.2013
Reached MAS at 5.40AM only to be surprised to see the usual early morning commotion missing. Checked the display boards and to my shock, SBC Mail was scheduled to arrive at 6.45 late by more than 2 hrs and along with that Yercaud, Nilagiri,Cheran,MAQ mail all delayed by almost 3 hrs(line b/w Salem and Tirupattur the culprit?). SBC mail seems to have left SBC at 1AM and overtook Kaveri b/w KPD and AJJ. It would have been nightmarish for MAS controllers with so many delays causing havoc. As many as 7 PFs were unoccupied at MAS at 5.45AM(HWH Mail-9,Kovai-10,Sapthagiri-7-,DD-1,SHTB-2A the only occupants). TNP shunters were stationed at 3 PFs(no idea why-reminded me of Vivek's dialogue-whom are...
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you making tea for in an empty stall ;) ).
So then, coming back to the topic of write-up, RPM Granddad was at the helm today and was buzzing. Grandpa showed no respect to last minute fellas who might have been rushing to board and departed 2 mins ahead of schedule. We moved past 7,8 stations and there were no signs of SBC Mail and finally mail with P4 screamed past us at Annanur(Mail after a very long time had overtook Yercaud at least technically)... to be continued

Took this train on 21/12/2012 from chennai to Tiruppur ,A friday night and as usual mostly IT crowd travels from chennai to CBE on friday and was just searching for any friend to meet coincidently.
.After booking the ticket as on 23/Aug/12, the waitlist moved painstakingly slow from WL 65 to RAC 20..even after 117 days...
Terribly dissapointed that I got an RAC, even though I know it ll be confirmed by TTE but TTE ll usually come around 12 to confirm.
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the journey was quiet eventfull , as I am taking a 10 day holiday and in no rush to sleep anyway , was just sitting in the side lower seat and fortunately my other RAc counterpart didnt turn up , as well quiet a few people around me also didnt turnup.
Then suddenly or surprisingly a squad came checking all people who booked tickets as a group,even they were checking two people booked in a same ticket.From my adjacent seats a group travelling as a 4 , a guy went outside to skip the check , but the squad was shrewd and asked for his ID as well threatened to cancel all 4 berths instead of only 1 if in case only that person is travelling on anothers eticket. And the group immediately accepted.
Another case were couple of guys used a single ticket with original PAN with the photo completely worn out and irrecognisable.The squad along with RPF threatened to book a case and they also relented to pay fine.
So they booked ard 5 cases and it was a good timepass and a cautious reminder for people travelling as a group.
Then as expected the TTE came ard 11 45 and I suggested he can allott the berth to me officially as the other person didnt turnup and he did the same just checking my name..( No Id or ticket verification as against the squad..) Cheran was cruising I should say but with the steady flow of RPFs walking every 15 mins..
As expected the train reached tiruppur with the delay of 10-15 mins at 5 10 Pm , and ready to catch up the slack to reach CBE on Time..