Trip report Part II / Day 2
Hello Good morning,
Heading towards the next day with a delay of 1 hour.. I woke up around 5:30 AM following a commotion between two pantry staffs. However it was a blessing in a disguise. We crossed the HWH bound 12864 YPR Exp with a P7. So I figured out that we are around 1:20 hrs delayed at that time. Being a lazy grump, I went back to sleep again but didn’t proper sleep as the fellow pax were already up for the morning chores. The...
more... Pantry staffs were taking the order for Breakfast. Finally the middle berth was slid down and I had a grin on my face. At least now I can seat properly and enjoy the journey. As we were about to reach Kavali, we slowed down and slowed down and finally crawled through the station and were greeted by NDLS bound Kerala Exp led by P7.
The breakfast came, which was nothing extraordinary. 2 slices of bread, butter chiplets, Omlette and a Tea Kit. The food was warm though. We still were running delayed and slowly reaching the 2 hour mark which didn’t made me worried as I was aware of this. We did a few good skips though. Right before reaching Nellore, we were stopped at Padugupadu. We stopped for eternity. We encountered a crossing with SBC-Hatia Exp lead by a RPM P7 (video link to be uploaded). The delay now exactly was of 2 hours. After sometime we got starter and slowly approached Nellore. And guess what, we stopped at Nellore for freaking 15 mins again. I don’t get this reason of unscheduled stops here and there. But whom to complain !!!
Now speaking of complain, one of the co-passenger, complained to Attendant regarding the AC Coach Door which was faulty. The attendant and the mechanic had no clue initially that what was the cause. The Mechanic made a ph call and asked the person on the other side to inform Renigunta Staff to take a look in our coach regarding the door issue. We were running late by more than 2 hours now. Finally we arrived at Gudur and stopped for a crossover since we were on Line 1. We were greeted by the NZM bound TN SK Exp led by ED P7. We were given proceed signal and we left Gudur and made our way towards Renigunta. We crossed Puri-Tirupati-Bilaspur Exp at Venkatagiri led by a LGD P4
As we reached the Renigunta outer, we were crossed ERS-HWH Antodaya Exp with a P7. We arrived at 12:50 PM. Renigunta is a station,that I like very much. Mostly because of the availability of Food, Snacks, Drinks. I don’t know I have liked this station very much, even though most other junctions have the same facility. Passengers started flocking to the snacks stalls, snacks vendors for a quick bite as the lunch was delayed. Washrooms were getting cleaned and water were filled up making it an extended halt. By this time there was no caring about how much time it would stop as we were already behind schedule by a good margin. The mechanic was summoned and he came along with his assistant to check the AC Door. Well after checking everything, he informed that right now, nothing can be done as a spring and a latch needs to be replaced which can be done once the train reaches YPR. He clicked the pics of the damaged parts and send it to his higher authorities. Before leaving he just made a remark saying the SRC yard staffs are worthless. The train lies in the yard for a good time but still they don’t inspect everything properly.
After a halt for 15 mins, we departed from Renigunta and were on final legs of our journey. Most of us were busy in tracking the status of the train. I too was glued to RailYatri as we approached KPD .We crossed the HWH bound 12246 Duronto at Walajah road, led by SRC P4. We were then delayed by 3 hours. As we approached KPD, pax started lining up their luggage for alighting. Almost 70% of the passengers from the entire train were bound for KPD itself. As we arrived at KPD at 3:20 PM, we had a small parallel action prior to that. An AJJ P1 led Express was also arriving at PF 5 from the TPTY Side. Unfortunately I couldn’t see the train No. or Name as it was too far. Helped few elderly passengers with their luggage while they were de-boarding. After a brief stop for 10 mins, we started for our destination, the last stop. Just as we left KPD, we met Kakinada Town bound Seshadri Exp with a BZA P4.
Well with most of the passengers gone, and the coach attendant organizing the used linens, things were started to get a bit more clean and tidy. I helped myself to a cup of hot coffee and a plate of Paneer pakoda as it was already 4 PM, almost. The real surprise was the MPS Run. After clearing the TSR’s at KPD outer, we were started zipping through. A constant 100KPH was maintained and the delay started to decline from 3 hrs gradually. Within no time we crossed Ambur, where we met a late running BNC-AGTL Humsafar with a P7. We recovered 30 mins delay when we approached JTJ, with a majestic view of the Yelagiri hills. We crawled through JTJ junction as few track maintenance works were going on. As we left JTJ on our horizon, the P7 started pushing again and this time also, the speedy 100KPH run was reached and maintained all along till WFD & in between we crossed the MAS bound MYS Shatabdi Exp.
When we left KPD, the arrival time at YPR was showing at 7 PM which was exactly, 3 hours behind schedule, but the 100KPH barreling run, apart from the JTJ crawl, brought down the arrival time by 40 mins. Now arrival time was showing at 6:15PM. But another surprise was waiting us which actually was a REAL SURPRISE. As we were approaching KJM, still maintaining 85-90KPH, some as***** pulled Chain from the one of the rear coach, in the hope that the train would be stopped at KJM so that most of the remaining passengers can de-board. But unfortunately, we couldn’t make it to the PF also. The P7 was stranded just under the Old-Madras bridge, with the coaches trailing it. But passengers took risk of getting down with their luggage and family members, which indeed was risky. The Chain Puller was caught by the RPF. I appreciate the immediate response shown by the RPF. We were stranded for about 15-20mins. And hence the delay again shot up. We finally started and glided past the KJM and BYPL stations and eventually slowed down before passing Banaswadi, Hebbal. As we were approaching the YPR Curve, darkness already descended and we were again stopped. The arrival time was now 7:10 PM. We kept stranded in the darkness before the signal turned green and slowly we entered YPR at 7:30 PM, exactly 3:30 hours delayed. With no rush, I slowly de-boarded the train and went towards PF6 to exit the station. By the way, that evening 12864 YPR Exp was departing from PF1 and the PF 6 was occupied by YPR-Kannur Exp. Suprising!!!
Well this brings to the end of the trip report.
Few observations:-
1. Many new & bright LHB rakes (Duronto & Non Duronto rakes) were seen throughout the entire journey, mostly between HWH-BAM. Some were assigned to zones (SER, NFR, ECoR), others were unassigned. I wonder how many ICF’s and Hybrid LHB’s are getting converted to Full time LHB in due time. (by the time, I post this, the HWH-YPR-HWH Duronto has already been converted to a Full LHB rake now)
2. Our’s was a Humsafar coach which had CCTV Cameras built in. I wonder if the cameras work because the Catering & Housekeeping staffs and attendants are seen to be collecting tips from passengers.
3. The Train which has an aggressive TT (given the number of stops and the schedule) isn’t able to maintain the punctuality. This is result of multiple unscheduled halts here and there. Extended halt duration at scheduled stoppages and clearance. I believe the extended halt duration is one of the major factors as this train, even though runs on the Duronto TT, has good number of stoppages and it can’t keep up the run owing to them.
4. Being a Weekly express, getting priority over daily trains is another big concern. This train gets delayed on the both the directions. It’s not a premium category long distance train like Duronto/Rajdhani. Hence once it’s delayed, it isn’t able to make up the lost time and gets more delayed. To forego this situation, Railways should change the arrival time (Increase by minimum 1 – maximum 2 hrs) both at YPR and HWH.
5. Coming to the train itself, since it’s a Full AC train, maintaining the coach & washroom cleanliness is always a challenge. Yes the washrooms were cleaned but they were dirty as well. Few passengers visited washrooms of other coaches and came back remarking our coach has a better cleanliness.
6. Pantry staff sell foods at a nominal price, plus the availability of all kinds of snacks and munchies is a big thumbs up.
PICS and Videos coming