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Blog Entry# 6166680
Posted: Aug 24 (11:32)

60 Responses
Last Response: Sep 01 (08:22)
1 Followers
General Travel
129088 views
32

★★★
Aug 24 (11:32)   19305/Dr. Ambedkar Nagar - Kamakhya Weekly Express (PT) | LKO/Lucknow Charbagh NR (9 PFs) | LDH/WAP-7/30626
thedemigod
thedemigod   314 blog posts
Entry# 6166680            Tags   Past Edits
20 compliments
Great Great Great Great Great Great:write-up. Great:Playing with saloon and alcos 😂 Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great
DADN-KYQ Express, NR/LKO ka Aatank.

So, for some urgent work, I had to return home to Varanasi from Lucknow. The original plan was to return via Ekatmata Express, but due to some unforeseen circumstances with my Thar, I had to return back from midway to the station.

So,
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more...
another hour, another plan. The 19305, DADN-KYQ Express suited me the best, so I booked the tickets in current availability. Hopped on an Uber and that was the fastest commute in my entire journey, reached Charbagh from Ekana in just over 20 minutes.

The train was on time till Kanpur, and as soon as it entered NR, it instantly got late. Still, I hoped the delay would not exceed 45 minutes. But the great NR/LKO. They were playing with a GM saloon and two ALCos on the PF-2 where the train was supposed to be received.

Shaheed Express was taken on the vacant PF-3 first, and when the ALCos finally got done with the parking simulator, Bagh Express was received on PF-2. And while it was a pleasant surprise to see coach display indicators on LKO, they were working with a mind of their own. Data of my still nowhere to be seen train was displayed while Bagh was on PF-2. And that of Shaheed started being displayed after it's departure.

Finally, after a delay of 1.5 hours, the train arrived on PF-3 and departed after accumulating a few more minutes of delay. But here comes something I hadn't expected from NR/LKO even in my dreams. The train reached SLN in around 1hr 20min, averaging more than 100kmph. And covered SLN-JOP in around 50 minutes, again an average of 100kmph. Now I was sure, we'd reach Varanasi before 11:30.

And then started typical NR behavior. The train was halted at every station to let the freights gain some progress, even though we were still late, officially. And finally the train was halted at Babatpur because operational block was taken. A totally avoidable situation, had they run the train on the schedule it was running.

The train halted there for almost an hour. Another block was scheduled if the previous one didn't work (they were welding the tracks), and exactly the same thing happened. But somehow we were allowed to proceed, supposedly because the train was full of people appearing for some exam, and they got agitated. The train was halted yet again at Shivpur and Varanasi outers.

At this point I was so annoyed, I deboarded and started walking towards the station. I boarded back when the train started crawling towards the station. Finally it reached BSB around 2 hours late. ½ hour of gained delay, even with a track-burning run, and a heavy slack in last 50km.

You can trust a wolf to guard the sheep, but can't trust NR to reach somewhere on time. Attached here are some pictures I took while waiting for my train. Well, except for the train I was traveling in.

P.S. Farakka is still displayed as MLDT-NDLS at BSB. And while the train boards are still printed and handwritten, CDO/KIR has taken extra steps to paint ER again wherever it had been peeled off. They're surely reading some blogs here.

Kumud.

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60 Posts

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4

Aug 31 (01:16)
thedemigod
thedemigod   314 blog posts
Re# 6166680-61              
2 compliments
Agree Agree
Ideally we need a pair of ICEs running on opposite TTs and in some cases multiple trains running with similar TTs like NR runs the Shuttle, ICE, MEMU and Special between BSB-LKO one after other. Yeah, NR/LKO is bad, but other zones should learn from NR in this aspect.

VB serves a different purpose. A person traveling regularly won't prefer a train with ₹1500 one-way fare when they can travel in ICEs in 1/10 of the same fare. It's not practical. They've got a concept that worked for the PR and are
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milking it beyond reasonability.

Vande Metro is a much better concept, and should be run at deserving routes with convenient timings apart from the reasonable pricings. Let's see what they come up with, you can't trust IR nowadays. They can mess up when you're least expecting them to.

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Aug 31 (09:10)
kirk781^~   4140 blog posts
Re# 6166680-62              
1 compliments
Agree
The faster MEMU b/w Varanasi and Lucknow via Sultanpur doesn't start from either of the main stations now [ends at Shivpur and Utratia on other side], so that's a hamper for end to end travel.

Look at LKO-MTC VB time table. Instead of introducing a train in the opposite TT, it just overlaps with the existing Intercity time table with it being an hour faster.
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Aug 31 (10:14)
Jogmani~
Jogmani~   28 blog posts
Re# 6166680-63              
Need a daily Lucknow Guwahati exp via Banaras Darbhanga SPJ KGG KIR NJP..
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Aug 31 (14:43)
thedemigod
thedemigod   314 blog posts
Re# 6166680-64              
That's a negative point about the MEMU. Else timings and average delays are palatable. Reaching Shivpur is not an issue per se, it's just that it's two extra steps if you're taking the public transport. Don't know about Utraitia on the other end.

The Rajyarani itself runs comparatively empty and they're introducing a much pricier option on the same time, I've a bad feeling about this. They could've tried new routes or new TTs, but expecting that from the babus of IR is too much. Even the train is averaging 63kmph, some
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long distance trains with plenty of halts have much higher average than that.

That being said they're apparently introducing the Tatanagar-Brahmapur VB. A relatively exonomjcally backward area which needs ICEs and is struggling with the current trains doesn't need a VB. I don't know if people sitting in the IR offices even have common sense or not. And the less we talk about sense in our 'leaders', the better.

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Sep 01 (08:22)
kirk781^~   4140 blog posts
Re# 6166680-65              
1 compliments
Agree:That's a must for good patronage!
The tracks for PBH and SLN diverge from Utratia. But it lies inside residential area, so public transport isn't always directly available. Plus since only couple of trains start/stop from here, there isn't much demand either.

TATA-Brahmapur has to be the stupidest VB ever. That route doesn't have an overnight option yet they want to run an 8 coacher VB for some reason. Neither the area nor the tracks are suited for such an operation. IR should put some basics in place like, if tracks are only suitable for 110 kph end
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to end, then VB shouldn't be introduced because there is no point for it.

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