A journey full of connexions :
In urgently i had to travel from Pune to home (Brother's marriage;)). Month was May , Hot scorching sun and vacation time , so getting a confirmed ticket in any direct train was impossible.
Searched Konark , falaknuma , Azad hind and all other trains from Mumbai/Pune/Hyderabad which could leave me near Odisha, but all in vain.
So...
more... in end , decided to do some Broken journey in Intercity trains as getting confirm ticket in 2S/CC is way easier than 3A/SL.
Itinerary became:-
Secunderabad to Vijayawada : SC Guntur Intercity
Vijayawada to Balasore : Coromandel express in 2A premium tatkal. 2A & 3A PT both were available but 2A was 430 Rs cheaper as compared to 3A ..I got HA coach....hahahaha..Jai ho premium tatkal baba ;)
But i was unable to get confirm ticket for any Pune to Hyderabad/Secunderabad train. I still can not wonder How come i was unable to get a confirm ticket in this 17013 Train also ? LOL..
So now i thought out a plan, To travel in General class from Pune to Begumpet in this train and then go to Secunderabad for boarding Guntur Intercity. Seems bit crazy , but Necessity is mother of Everything.
But i was doubtful for how will i get a seat (specially window seat) in general compartment. Then IRI cam to help. One member told me that go to daund Jn. and from there board the 17014 Hyderabad Pune express. The same rake which arrives Pune , leaves as Return Train 17013 Pune-HYD express from the Platform itself. So just as the crowd alights at Platform in pune , i could get my choice of seat.
Thus , i carried my back pack considering the journey tiredness (trolleys or suitcase will cause me more pain while travelling). I boarded the 10 am Pune Daund Shuttle from Loni station and reached Daund exactly 11:30 am.
Soon after 2-3 minutes i saw a Kazipet Alco coming to Daund and i was confident that its 17014 arriving nearly 10 minutes before time at DD. I chose the 1st general coach after ALCO as after reversal at Pune , this will become the rear end and i will be saved from the black smoke entering into coach. The train reached Pune at 1 pm and soon i was sitting on my perfect Window seat. There was Good amount of crowd boarding from Pune and Majority were Barshi/Osmanabad/Latur people. Train left exactly at 2:15 pm and soon was mps. Again i reached Daund station (2nd time in the same day;)) and still it was 5 min before time. I went and packed some Hot & tasty bread ommlette. Here take care that the this train's Rear coaches comes nearly in the middle of Platform as the rake length is Tiny.
After Daund, it was made to wait for atleast 20 minutes at Bhigwan for a heavy Duty crossing with Pune-SUR Intercity. At bhigwan , there was only 1 seller selling good Bhel-puri. After that train was running quite brilliantly. Soon it was dark and train reached Osmanabad on time. But after that it was literally Crawling. Hardly 30-40 kmph speed was done. By this time train was hardly 60% filled. Just as the Train reached latur , nearly whole compartment got empty. The general compartment was containing hardly 30-40 % people. At Latur , there was only 1 food stall with limited snacks. No other option was present. Just purchased some kurkure & biscuits for the night. After that the journey was good. I was expecting some food like samosa or biryani at latur road, but seriously this Latur road Junction was kind of "Ghost station" in night. No lights (They were defective as per told by the SCR Guard who boarded at Latur road junction) was making the environment more dangerous. There was No Food at all anywhere after. Whole night i was unable to sleep properly due to hunger. The train reached Begumpet at 4 am and i bid farewell to this Train. I promised myself to Never ever board again this train and die in hunger again. Instead Buses for pune to hyderabad are way better than this train.
At Begumpet there was a Working Water cooler on Pf 1 near FOB/GRP booth. I drank ,seriously, a huge quantity of water and just calmly sat on the bench. I was waiting for the 1st MMTS 04:50 am for Secunderabad. The ticket counter at Begumpet opened exactly 10 minutes before the arrival of this MMTS. Here i wish to give you a tip, Do save a exact Rs 5 change for begumpet-Secunderabad ticket. Counter people don't have change , even for 20 Rs also. And they say Don't buy ticket if you don't have Rs 5 exact change...After some waiting/Sleeping at begumpet, the MMTS came and i boarded it...
The rest of the journey was Normal and without any problems as it was all reserved. Guntur Intercity is a excellent train and is very very punctual. I was easily able to complete my lunch at comesuem in Vijayawada and then boarded coromandel..
Thats it for this journey experience...
Thanks for reading......
