TATA Steel Express - Second Sitting sasta bhi, sabse achha bhi - Ravi Raj

It has been a dream of mine, since childhood, that I should savour the experience of travelling in ALL THE TRAINS of IR, during my lifetime, at least all M/E trains to begin with. Maybe later on I shall try and post the full list of my achievements till date. But that will necessitate a reference to my daily dairies, which I have been maintaining, meticulously, since 1975. No wonder, while booking tickets, I try to opt for trains which I have not boarded in the past. That was what prompted me to book tickets for the 12308 Jodhpur-Howrah SF Express for my return journey on 19th Jan, from Benares to Howrah, even if it involved boarding the train at Mughalsarai, while tickets were available aplenty for direct trains departing from Benares. As general quota for this train was WL, 2 separate tickets had to be booked for me and my...
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wife in LOWER BERTH QUOTA and LADIES QUOTA respectively with berths far apart in S6/12 (lower) and S3/22 (upper). The scheduled departure time for this train at MGS was 17.10 pm and we reached MGS at 16.40 from Varanasi by an auto, the journey of 20 kms taking an hour or so. The ride was back-breaking over a make-shift pontoon bridge across the Ganges. Parts of the GT Road at Mughalsarai were more of an apology for a road, causing the builder, the great emperor, SHER SHAH SURI to turn in his grave. Stretches of it in Mughalsarai town resembled a muddy dust track, especially near the coal yards, and were liberally pock-marked with moon-like craters. By the time we reached MGS, we were in need of a massage, a bath and may be some physiotherapy too.
But entering Mughalsarai Station itself proved to be a railfan’s delight. What is probably, one of the busiest stations in India was fairly as neat and clean as one can possibly hope for, given the volume of train and human traffic. The station public address system was busy throughout, without even a moment’s respite, with announcements of trains arriving and departing by the dozen. The trains that came and left were 12801 Purushottam Express, 12802 Purushottam Express, 13112 Lal Quila Express, 12831 Poorva Express, 14055 Brahmaputra Mail, 14056 Brahmaputra Mail, 19048 Bhaga;pur Surat Express, 12334 Vibhuti Express, to name but a few during my waiting period at MGS spanning about 3 hours. 6 platforms seemed insufficient to accommodate a virtual procession of trains, considering that the average duration of the halts there is 20 mns, ranging from 10 mns for the mighty RAJDHANIS to 40 mns for the KALKA MAIL. A COMESUM FOOD PLAZA serving PFs 1 and 2 offered tasty and delicious food for the hungry. The average delay in arrival & departures was 2/3 hours with the Delhi-Bound 12381 Poorva from Howrah being BANG ON TIME and the 14055 Brahmaputra Mail from Delhi bound for Dibrugarh, a whooping 7 hrs 30 mns late.
PART-II of the narrative to follow later as it is time for a lunch-break.