Tamil Nadu Express - தங்களை அன்புடன் வரவேற்கிறது - Swaroop Kutti

Travelled by the Odisha Sampark Kranti between Kanpur and Hijli[Kharagpur] on 10-05-2016.
JOURNEY FROM LKO to CNB
Reached the LKO railway station at 0900 hrs to catch the CNB bound EMU. It was late. Saw the Farakka Exp[going towards Malda Town] and at rest NDLS-LKO AC Superfast[My dad who had came to leave me at the station remarked that the Rajdhani was standing :p]. Surprising was the link for Lucknow-Balamau passenger; a ECoR led WDG. My EMU came at 10.00 and everyone, without caring for order just rushed into it. Luckily got a...
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windows seat. Then, in classic NR style, the EMU started moving on the wrong[utilizing the right side of the track instead of the left one]. They rectified it later and we were sailing easily. Some 30 kms from LKO, we were OT by the Varuna Exp. Reached ON[unnao] some 45 mins late. After that, it was a classic case of congestion at Kanpur. Took us 1 hr to reach Kanpur[reached there at 1 'o clock, the Odisha SK comes at 1315 hrs{but I had faith in the NR controllers that they'll delay it and delayed it was ultimately by 1 hr}]. Xinged with the Shatabdi, Agra Intercity, JP-LJN Exp, LTT-GKP Exp[in that order].
SCENE AT KANPUR
As soon as I arrived the announcement was made for the 01 UP/02 DN Kalka Mail(:p) at PF #1. Saw Neelachal Exp(as usual, running late), Gorakhpur Okha[both going towards Lucknow], BJU-GWL Mail, Rapti Sagar[going towards Jhansi side] and North East Express[came just before Sampark Kranti]. For some reason, Kanpur station was clean that day; the Comesum[clean but too expensive] was there at PF 1.
IN TRAIN
My train arrived an hour late. The coaches were decently maintained[not too new though], train was running quite empty. Catering[from PC] was done by Meals on Wheels[ not too impressive, but they had ice-creams too. Had Egg Biryani]. Link was a GZB WAP 4 .Ripped Fatehpur at MPS and did a good run till Allahabad outers where we were stopped for 15 mins[lots of trains xinged in the CNB-ALD section].Surprisingly,we OT the North East express at Allahabad[as we crawled through it]. Saw the LTT-Varanasi at Naini Jn and the deserted Chheoki Jn. It was freight mania after that[atleast saw 12 + goods train in the ALD-MGS section; too congested; also saw a couple of LHB trains in the section]. Vindhyachal was skipped at MPS though the best was Mirzapur[ as the train turns giving a good view and blasts past the platform]. As soon as we approached MGS, classic trolling came into view as we were stopped at the outers for 30 mins only to arrive 2 hrs late at MGS. Saw the Sampoornakranti,Sealdah - Varanasi and the North East arriving as we departed. In the night, we did halt at Gaya for a minute[unscheduled]. Didn't see much after that as I slept, though it covered some delay in the section. Arrived at Tatanagar at 6 in the morning. Did some ripping of the tracks[ and OT 2 EMUs] as we headed towards Hijli. Crawled through hijli outers all the way long. Arrived an hour late.
->PF 1 of Kanpur Central[Varuna Exp in background]
->PF 1 of Kanpur[towards subway side]
->Kalka Mail on PF 1
->Gorakhpur Okha crawling in
->View from PF # 7
->#SB of CNB[with a LKO WDM in background; #admins do update]
->North East Exp
->EMU crawling out of CNB
->photo of same EMU with a WDM at the helm
->Outers of Allahabad
->Back Part of Train
->At MGS[with Sampoornakranti Exp in background]
->Outers of Kharagpur
->Tracks at Kgp
->Tracks[closer view]
->Towards Nimpura Yard
->Freight trains standing[Odisha SK going towards Hijli]