Tamil Nadu Express - தங்களை அன்புடன் வரவேற்கிறது - Swaroop Kutti

Forget the question, it doesn't matter as it's highly unlikely you'll be using the Chalukya Express (Train 1017)
But I did use that train once, and in 3-tier air con as well, never again, nobody told me story about why the train never runs on Tuesdays, or why the trains times were completely changed a few years ago to be sure of departing Miraj station in daylight, nobody told me the tale, nobody mentioned the Ghost of the Chalukya Bear.
Late one Tuesday night the Bangalore Express (as it was called in those...
more...

days) departed Miraj station on a routine journey south, but as it crossed the Krishna River and started it's journey through the Jamkhandi Hills disaster was waiting on the track ahead.
A pack of Chalukya Bears were playing on the track, the driver didn't stand a chance, the train was going too fast and hit the bears, killing most of them, it was the beginning of the end for the Chalukya Bears, their numbers were small and this accident was one they would never get over, the last sighting of a Chalukya Bear was 4 years ago and they are now believed to be extinct.
But the bears were to get their revenge.
For months passengers on the Bangalore Express complained of foul smells and hearing howling noises as the train passed through the Jamkhandi Hills, in the end Indian Railways changed the name of the train and it's timings, making sure the train passed through the Jamkhandi Hills during daylight, eventually, with customers still complaining, Indian Railways decided to stop running the train on Tuesdays.
When I used this train, all the people in the 3-tier air con carriage were looking worried as the train departed Miraj station, some even went to stand in the spaces outside the carriage, because the carriage is air conditioned, it is feared that the awful smells (that are still reported in the area) just get blown around the carriage time and time again, and although most people still say they hear the dreadful howling of the bears as the train passes the accident spot, I didn't hear anything, except for the Dixie Chicks CD that was playing on my Walkman.
Other than that, 3-tier air con was great on the Chalukya Express.