Sharing a personal experience, thinking of may be some day my experience will help someone in trouble.
It was January 23 this year. Winters were in full touch. My vacation was over and i had reservation in lucknow mail and nzm pune duranto express to travel from bareilly to pune.
Earlier i had choice for doing reservation either in shramjeevi exp or lucknow mail, but i opt for the mail as shramjeevi was coming from bihar , and due to fog long distance trains are untrustworthy. So booked 2nd a.c seat in the...
more... mail.
It around 0100hr. I was fully prepared. My dad was also ready to give me lift till bareilly station. I just for curiosity checked status of shramjeevi, and it showed 3hrs late running. I was relieved to see it. Then i checked the mail's status. And it showed its crossed hardoi and is running 45 min late. I was happy that the mail didn't broke my trust.
I spent some more time in the sweet warmness of home. At about 0200hr, i left for railway station. Bareilly station was hardly 10min ride from home. When i reached station, i saw 12229 is going to arrive 1 hr late on pf 2. I checked ntes, and it showed 12229 has crossed SPN. I hoped that by 0300hr it will reach at BE. I decided to wait at pf and asked my dad to return home as it was very chilly cold and he had to go to office in the morning.
At about 0250hr , without announcement a train was arriving on pf 2. Due to good experience, by seeing the loco headlight i knew that it was an EMD. I thought it was 12229, but when it arrived i was shocked that it was NDLS bound shramjeevi express. So shramjeevi covered up its some delay in between LKO and BE. Now i was very eager to see if 12391 is at BE, then where is my 12229 ? Just after a halt of mere 50-60 seconds, the ECR speedstar departed. And announcement was made for 12229. That meant 12229 was waiting patiently at the bareilly outskirts for the pf 2 to get vacant.
Somehow 12229 arrived on pf 2 at 0300hr. And after a halt of well 05 min, it departed. Coach was extensively neat and clean. And it was total silence inside the A2. My seat was side lower. It was all dark and i went to sleep. At about 0745hr, i woke up due to sudden jerk and jolt. I saw that we were departing from hapur jn. That meant now 12229 was running about 2.30hrs late now. Now i cursed my self that 12229 will arrive by 0930-0945 at NDLS, and till i reach NZM, the duranto will be missed.
But now nothing was in my hands except seeing my watch and getting tensed.
After HPU, the train's speed was moderate , i think around 40-50 kmph. At pilkhua , it made a unscheduled halt. Now the time was 0830hr. 12229 reached mahrauli and at the big curve near GZB outer it was again made to halt. A freight was moving from GZB towards aligarh side.
Now the time was 0900hr. The person sitting infront of me suggested me to alight at GZB and take a bus/auto/local to NZM, as it was sure that 12229 will be reaching NDLS only after 1000hr. So i decided to alight at GZB. 12229 arrived GZB at 0915 hr.
Now i went outside and talked with a auto driver regarding fare to NZM. After bit of discussion in local haryanvi language, he agreed on 350 bucks. But he said that he will take me till u.p border and from there his friend a delhi auto will take to NZM. His share will be 150 and other auto will take 200. I said do whatever you want, just make me reach NZM by 1045hr.
We left GZB at 0930hr. It was just 1 hr 15 min left. He took the hapur road or called as GT road. It was full of trucks and traffic was more. But the driver was good and weel experienced. We reached u.p-delhi border within 30 min. From there i boarded another auto. Time was now 1000hr. 45 min were left. From here on, the roads were good and traffic was less. Delhi roads were good to travel. We crossed akshardham at about 1025hr. I checked ntes and found that 12229 arrived NDLS at 1030hr. I thanked in mind that co-passenger who suggested me to de-board at GZB. The auto was going at a good speed. And the traffic, thanks to god's grace was very less. I reached NZM at exactly 1045hr. The auto left me on pf 7 side. 12264 was scheduled on pf 5 and i ran towards pf 5. RPF personal was smiling at me when they saw me getting extensively hurrying for my bags to come on other side of scanner. They understood that this fool is very late for his train. He just asked me which train and i replied him while running its pune duranto. He shouted from behind, " abey jaldi bhaag, jaane wali hai woh !!!" I heard him and ran much faster.
I reached pf 5 and to my happiness, duranto was standing. I thanked in mind all those person , the co-passenger of 12229, both the auto drivers and ghaziabad-delhi traffic , without whom help, i couldn't have reached on exact time.
My seat was A1 46. Just as i reached near my bogie, the WAP 7 gave a loud horn for departure. I boarded the coach and went to my seat. To my utter surprise, the cabin side seats of A1 were having doors just like a 1st class coach. Whereas the bay side seats were having curtains.
Rest of the journey was good and restful.
I just wanted to share this experience , to tell people that even if get trapped in these kind of tricky situations, don't get disheartened. Don't think as negative that i will not be able to catch train.
Use internet and communicate with passengers and local people. Just believe in yourself and god, and start your journey. If god wants you to catch that train and you are also trying your best to catch that train, then no body can stop you.
