Tamil Nadu Express - தங்களை அன்புடன் வரவேற்கிறது - Swaroop Kutti

Railfanning trip to Humsafar
25.12.2016- The Humsafar to the South was flagged off
27.12.2016 morning- Got ready to office and informed my mom i am taking some extra bucks and will be late for dinner at night if Humsafar comes on time.. Information provided, went to office
6PM- Informed my colleagues that am leaving and its getting late.. Immediate reaction- how late?? i told...
more...

them the reason... My colleagues were thrilled- My colleagues from the Ecor HQ developed a attraction towards my hobby as one of my information last year ptoved to be a boon to them.. They were relieved of their journey by the 18463/64 Prashanti crawling its way all the way to the more faster and reliable Duronto getting at halt commercially at the Ecor HQ.. But as they knew along with my other colleague from the ER Hq that getting a ticket in the 12246 itself is a pain now. So they were pretty thrilled that another train at almost duronto speed with 3A accommodation is coming-"Sid send us the snaps or else you arent coming tomorrow was their immediate reaction"- Anither asked- "But its a special- what if it turns up hours late"- showed them the live status that the Humsafar had speeding towards Jolarpettai and had crossed Ambur at 6:10PM. They wished me all the best as I left
Anyway left office at 6:20PM, and changed BMTC buses to shivajinagar and helped myself with a Kulfi there. Took another bus to reach BangaloreCantt at 8:05PM and after purchasing the platform ticket had a look at the board. There was no mention of the Humsafar on any of the TV screens. Heard a lound honk which seemed like a DMU. As I moved info PF1 it was Erode WDG-3A tiwns with the 1hr late running 56513 Karaikkal-Bangalore Pass. The train left within minutes of entering
i walked towards the BNCE end of PF1 and to the spot where the siding PF-1A starts, the terminating PF of BNC. in the meantime 12609 entered into BNC at 20:20hrs behind RPM WAP7.. Now the scenario for this train has changed and similar to Lalbagh has reservations till D9 unlike earlier where it was restricted to D3. The train sort of had a longish halt extending to almost 5 minutes before getting clearance to depart
Just as 12609 left, AJJ WAP4 arrived onto PF2 with the 16526 Island Express running 10 mins behind schedule and with heavy crowd in the UR. After the 4 minute halt, the AJJ WAP4 honked and started leaving, and simulatenously ED WAP4 came in with the 22618 TPTY-SBC Tri-weekly Intercity onto Pf-1. Holiday effect shown on this train too with majority coaches seeming full. The short rake entered completely under the sheltered cover of Pf-1 leaving nothing exposed.
22618 sort of had a very long halt corteousy 2 trains ahead awaiting clearance. RPM WAP7 came in on the opposite with the shortest Express 16522 to Bangarpet running almost an hour late as many other trains seemd to have delayed this one. Though 16526 had taken off most of the UR crowd, there was a quite sizeable number of people (Almost 70 per coach) of this 18 coacher indicating a requirement of a local train for Bangalore City
16522 got clearance in minutes and time had ticked to 20:45hrs now. 22618 stayed still. in the meantime, the last DMU out of Bangalore 76520 to Marikuppam came and left behind the 16522. 2 Express already gone towards Bangarpet, this train had a minimal number of 15-20 people per coach. 22618 too got clearance at 20:55 hrs and proceeded after a 20 minute long halt. I looked into TE for the status of Humsafar. 18:38 JTJ was the last update. Is he coming or not.. Mind stayed watch max till Lalbagh which was now at Whitefield. If Lalbagh also arrives and no further info better to go back
Slowly witnessed a change on Pf- Porters moved across to Pf-1A. They were allocating positions among themselves and marking borders.. Looks like they were hunters waiting for the game to enter...some hopes of train arriving entered my mind
the announcement now simultanously went for arrival of 11302 Udyan onto PF-2 and 12678 Ernakulam Day express onto PF-1. the 56213 to Tirupati seemed to have missed the slot an dis now waiting for a proper clearance slot at SBC. WDP4 entered onto Pf-2 but at same time, 12678 behind Erode WDM-3A twins came in blocking the view of Udyan.
Just as 12678 came to a halt, the announcement came to life.. The lady voice that sang till then went off and it was a male voice in a rather hoarse urgent tone "02504 Kamakhya BangaloreCantt Humsafar special will be arriving in shortly on PF-1A..I immediately moved towards the 1A side descending the steps that marked the way to 1A from 1... As i went a bit ahead, heard a slight roar...the roar of the EOG .. the roar got louder and slowly steadily spotted the approcahing rake behind WAG7... the porters looked at the new rake in awe as I went past the incoming train and stopped near the B9 coach where noone seem to be descending. Went in and informed the occupants to descend and after few snaps, got out
Got down to the platform just to find the WAP7 of RPM whizzz past with the 12607 Lalbagh from Chennai at 21:30hrs, the eyes of all the passengers were now on Pf-1A admiring the Humsafar livery while a few others got out and took selfies with the train before proceeding to the exit. Slowly walked towards the exit and away from the crowd near the BNC bus stop hired an auto to my place
5 minutes into the journey conversation starts
(Went in kannada- translated to english)
Driver: " Sir why so much crowd at this point- Normally I never come near Cantt but today I came so was shocked "
Me: No nothing- its a regular feature- 2 trains came in almost simultaneously (Humsafar and Lalbagh) so crowd
Driver: Oh ok sir- from where they came sir
Me (Over excited now)- One from Chennai- other came from place called Guwahati which is near Calcutta
Driver (Now the most dangerous question): Which train you came sir- you are carrying only one bag so I think you came from Chennai train
Me (Smiling to myself): No i just came to Railway station to see the Guwahati train- it was recently introduced
Driver (Shocked beyond expectation)- Sir- what- but why--i mean how-- you came to see a train all the way from JP nagar to Bangalore Cantt
Me: Yes- it was a recently introduced train so i wanted to see it (By the time auto approaches the Vidhana Soudha Signal)- see thhe snaps- this is the train
Driver: Sir very nice livery sir- looks neat like a hotel room- any name they kept sir-
Me: Humsafar
Driver: Humsafar- means we travel- or Humsuffer- whoever travels in it will suffer
Me: Laughing- well starting its we travel only- may be as days progress we have to see what happens
Driver : Chennai ok sir- whats this other place- Calcutta i have heard= how much journey from Calcutta Sir
Me: its another almost 20 hrs journey beyond Calcutta
Driver: Sir- what-- so that means how long from Bangalore Sir
Me: Almost 50 hrs.. The train was 2.5 hrs late
Driver: Sir so long 2.5 hrs is no big deal sir... But 50 hrs.. Only train can do this job sir.. just imagine on road- they will put so much of brake and shaking that we will only shake like anything
Me: hmm- thats true
Driver: Sir whats is the distance from Bangalore to Calcutta
Me: Almost 2000 kms
Driver: Guwahati ??
Me: Close to 3000
Driver: And what could be the fare for this section-Bangalore to Guwhati
Me: Close to Rs.3500-Rs.4000/- in the AC class
Driver: Not bad sir- Just over a Re. per km.. and that too in AC comfort
Driver: Sir, now I want to see this train details can i search in website
Me: Yes you can
Driver: Oh thanks sir- Humsafar- name to be remembered.. i will check the other details sir
Me: Oh ok...
Later conversation shifted to other local topics but it was only for last 10 mins as my house had approached by that time