Amarkantak Express: Holy for Railfans as holy as Amarkantak is for devotees. - Ayan G

Ok so having witnessed so many LHB trains since morning, time to catch up on some ICF trains as Malwa departed around 10 mins late and KK was brought into the same PF by 8.40PM. Just one glance at KK’s rake, I was almost going to board into a coach thinking I’m at SBC PF #1 at 10.40PM as I’m so used to the rakes of SBC-MAS mail the train with which KK shares her rake. Interestingly I’ll be boarding the same rake at MAS on Sep-12 to return back to SBC by 12657- yes, the same rake would have arrived at SBC as KK exp today and depart as 12658 tonight to MAS. Following the norm of shunting of trains done at NDLS by the same loco that will haul the train for its journey, KK too was shunted into the PF and was going to be hauled by a...
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huge offlink VSKP WAP4. Perhaps the loco would have come with the AC AP exp. Finally the much awaited moment arrived as ED P4 brought in TN’s rake and my coach HA1 was the 3rd from the loco-22665. We got the starter to depart on time and within no time picked up speed as NZM, Asaoti were all history. Coach was 2005 made with clean toilets and interiors. Bedding seemed to be a little dirty but adjusted since I hardly use them during train journeys. Coach was full and 90% of the pax were from TN and 60% of them were IR employees reaping the benefit of free/concessional ride in 2A. Wanted to witness the high speed and priority TN gets in NCR but slept off by 11.30 to be woken up by the CBC jerk as we were departing from JHS delayed by around 15 mins. The RF and TN’s fan in me was left outraged as the legend was trolled at Bina as well as BPL outer by WCR as we arrived BPL late by almost 30 mins. Quickly checked to find out where JP-MYS was and expected it be OT soon as it was not too far ahead. But WCR controllers had other ideas as we were stopped at ET outer for 10 minutes that the time compensated after BPL had gone to the bin. It was CR’s turn to troll us next as we continuously slowed down at various points till NGP as JP-MYS was just 1 block ahead and was never allowed to be overtaken. Delay only increased at NGP as I quickly grabbed my lunch at NGP PF and we trailed JP-MYS further till BPQ where the 2nd PF for KZJ/WL bound trains was occupied by a freight and that ensured we were let into BPQ PF only after the departure of 12976. I was so relieved we reached BPQ as SCR crew and controllers were going to take over soon and TN will get the priority it deserves! Contrary to the average increase in delay of TN in BPQ-WL section, this time it reduced the delay by 5 mins as we arrived WL just 35 mins late. I could see Charminar waiting at KZJ cabin allowing TN to pass first. This is exactly why I love SCR so much for handling of TN in their territory. Late running Padmavati was overtaken at MABD as TN showed her aggression right through the BPQ-BZA Outer section. Stopped at BZA outer for 10 mins, we departed BZA post 1AM and what followed next was pure aggression for the next 5.30 hours as we arrived at KOK at 6.40AM. It was raining at MAS and the weather was so pleasant that I felt I was at SBC. Starter was given at KOK at 6.55 and we crawled past BBQ to enter MAS PF5 at 7.15. Brindavan was stationed on PF3 and PF4, PF6 were empty. Overall a pleasant journey and was glad to witness the high speed action of TN in SCR.
Cleanliness – 9.4/10 (OBHS kept the coach clean throughout the journey)
Speed- 9.5/10
Punctuality- 9/10
Food- 4/10 (Meals on Wheels and Arenco were caterers and the dinner, coffee, tea all were bad. The MOW guy taking lunch order was drunk and I rejected his lunch offer just for his attitude)
Order of priority zone wise: SCR>NCR>SR>NR>WCR>CR. SR not much involved so placing them in the middle.
Thanks for the patience in reading!