We reached Vijayawada Jn at 6.30 am on 17th april since the train would arrive in another 35 min.....no mention of this train on display...no info on any other platform except pf 1....time kept passing....finally at 7.35 we got an annoucement mentioning that thistrain would come on pf 7...so we went there....was expecting a WAM4 or SRC WAP 4....but to my astonishment i saw Ludhiana WAG 7 bringing this train....is this its regular link???
My coach was S7 and we were a group of 7pax travelling.....Oh my god!!! The train was full with ppl hanging from the doors;even the sleeper ones...we somehow got through the door and went to our berths.....they were occupied; 10 ppl in SL,3 in UB and MB...
more... each.....we literally died to make them vacate our berths...the train started at 8.15am widout any announcement....Went to check the toilets.....no water,no cleaning and was stricken wid garbage all over....
Slowly the train picked up speed and it never got beyond 80-90kmph....although the MPS in BZA-GDR is 110kmph....pantry was there thats it...nothing available...just water bottlesad couple of drinks....only Veg biryani for lunch & no snacks.....stopped at Ongole and Nellore...got down to pack our lunch at NLR...widout any announcement the train started moving and i literally had to fight to let myself into the train....Stopped at GDR for a crossing although there was no commercial stop...Then till RU it was good....technical halt at RU...But useless..no water filling there also...!!!!!Just namesake....itdiverted via Melpakkam from RU...skipped Tiruttani and Ponpadi at good speed...and at Arakkonam bye pass wewaited for almost 40min for SRC WAP4 hauled YPR-HWH Duronto...then entered main line...and our endless journey continued....
The so called reserved compartment became one once it entered Kerala...all unreserved and wl ppl got down at PGT, TCR,Aluva,ERN and the train was khaali by the time we reached TVC and we were the only ppl from TVC to CAPE.........from TVC GOC WDP3A took charge...and we reached CAPE at 10am...25 min ahead of schedule.....
My ratings..
1.Speed 6/10
2.Cleanliness 1/10
3.Food 0..since nothing was available
4.Safety nil
My sincere advice is to travel by AC...i made a mistake travelling in SL...atleast in AC..U LL HAV PRIVACY AND SECURITY AND COMFORT...
Thanks to all for your patient reading...