Everyone knows if a train is running late, ONLY RailFans know WHY it is late

TRIP REPORT ON MY SECUNDERABAD TO PURI JOURNEY
Trip link for 12704: /diary/trip/86708
Trip link for 18303: /diary/trip/88347
A journey with friends is always exciting, but a train journey with humble co passengers who give their PRECIOUS Lower Berth is always “sone pe suhaga”. As I entered platform 1 of Secunderabad JN at 3pm, the shining rake of Falaknuma was already placed...
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on the platform. Considering the fact that the sleeper coaches of this train faces Unreserved passengers hoax till Vijayawada JN, I decided to stay near my allotted berths, till my friends could join. As time progressed, coach got filled with passengers, 17320 SC-UBL Express occupied PF2, 12748 Palnadu SF Express arrived on PF3 and 12714 Satavahana SF Express occupied PF4 which was having offlink BZA WAG5 attached. After departure of late running Palnadu, Falcon departed bang on time, kick started by rebuilt alco twins from MLY DLS.
The alco twins showed their power and within no time we reached Pagidipalli JN and switched tracks to join single diesel line till Guntur JN. Observing the difficulties we four of us faced while communicating, one of the co passenger exchanged his lower berth with side upper berth. It was a mediocre journey till Guntur in terms of speed, with crossings with many freight and passenger trains like Janmabhoomi Express and COA-LTT Express. Finally we entered electric territory and reached Guntur 10 minutes late. SBC bound Prasanthi Express waiting for us to arrive and Palnadu Exp was shunted. We decided to have dinner, so that we can enjoy the night view of Prakasham barrage and famous Kanaka Durga Devi temple view from river Krishna along with the sound coming from tracks while crossing the Truss bridge. We had Butter Chicken and Paneer Butter Masala with Rumaali Rotis packed at Hyderabad as menu. There was a brief period of parallel action at Krishna Canal Junction with THE bound 12836 YPR-HTE Express, where we joined the GDR-BZA line. In the end Falaknuma won the race and reached BZA ontime.
As we were entering PF5 at BZA, MS bound Circar Express was waiting at PF4 and VSKP-NZM link Express entered PF6. The platform was very crowded and considering the fact that loco change at BZA happens at rapid pace, I decided to drop my plan of witnessing loco change. Offlink GZB WAP4 25004 took charge for link Express and we departed ontime. Before the start of journey, many railfans stated that this train has aggressive run in BZA-VSKP stretch. Falcon didn’t disappoint me in proving those words right. After a half an hour sedate paced journey after departure and witnessing crossing of few BZA bound trains, Falcon switched to sheer aggressive mode. Within no time we were approaching Visakhapatnam. Clock didn’t even ticked 2am and we have already entered ECoR territory at Duvvada. It was time to witness parallel entry of before time running Falcon and way before time running MAS bound Coromandel Express. Visakhapatnam was busy with loco reversal program and I was busy talking with my cousin who came to meet me at 3:30 AM. Falcon got the nod ahead of Coro and departed bang on time.
After spending a sleepless night, I decided to have a power nap. After sleeping for 1 hour, I woke up, courtesy: early sunrise in the summer season. It was not even 5:30 am and sun was rising bright and shining. As Falcon continued to give ontime performance, Nature took centerstage as we passed through coastal fields with Eastern Ghats in backdrop. As we departed Bramhapur, the coach was almost empty and 4 of us occupied empty window seats to witness the speed show on the banks of Chilika lake. After departing otime from Balugaon, we reached Kurdha Road JN, marking an end to an eventful journey.
Taking more than one hour of buffer time into account, it was freshup time and had breakfast present on PF2/3. Meanwhile we witnessed a procession of trains towards Puri. Late running Rayagada-Puri slip express, Durg-Puri Express, Angul-Puri fast passenger and Talcher-Puri passenger departed back to back. As we heard the announcement about late running of Sambalpur-Puri Intercity Express, we decided to board another late running Puri bound Nandan Kanan Express. Right at 11 30, way before time running NDLS bound Nandan Kanan Express and late running Puri bound Nandan Kanan Express made an anti parallel entry into KUR. An empty GS coach right behind the loco was waiting for to board and grab the seat. WAP4 22644 from SRC shed didn’t show any mercy at all in its last leg of journey and continuously generated ear shattering sound with its dual honk. We reached Puri around 12:20, hence bidding an end to a full day journey.
PICS: All pics captured in Bramhapur and Balugaon stretch on the bank of Chilika Lake.
Ratings:
Cleanliness(4/5): Coach was 1999 made, but very well maintained. Charging points were present and was clean enough.
Punctuality(5/5): Right from Secunderabad to Kurdha Road JN, no where train was late by more than 15 minutes.
Food(4/5): Even though I didn’t tasted pantry food, I could make out from co passenger’s response that food was tasty, especially morning snacks, which included Bread omlette, Onion pakoda and Cutlet.
Ticket availability(3/5): Getting a confirmed ticket in this train is very difficult. Remote Location quota and Pooled quota tickets get booked like hot cake on ARP. Kurdha Road comes under Pooled quota and due to non availability of tickets on more than a month ago, booked till BHC to avail tickets present in General quota.
Railfanning(5/5): Lots of crossings before dusk settles and covers majority of Eastern costal stretch, Chilika lake view and Mahanadi river in daylight.
Safety(5/5): RPF were doing their duty with dedication, there were some question marks regarding presence of Transgenders, beggars and unreserved passengers in VZM-KUR stretch, but all were proved wrong.