DOJ: 11th June, 2022
Travelled end to end in 2AC coach of this train. One of the rake is a new 2021 built in 2 AC which has great head room in upper berth but the side upper berth has almost no head room so you cannot sit upright there. The new seats are pathetic with no flaps and cushion seems worse than the cushions of 3 ac coaches. I always got backache after completing the night's sleep in the train.
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The first night was fairly peaceful, but the second day began with a horror as I learnt that my co-passenger's purse which contained mobile phone and cash was stolen. We suspect that it was by vendors who began entering our coach by 3-4 am itself which is odd. The complaint was lodged with the RPF after complaining on railmadad and eventually, the family was suggested to file FIR at their destination station.
The second day was bombarded with huge number of vendors and passengers from general/sleeper class who were sleeping/standing on the doorway. It was annoying to say the least, it was hard to find the peace during the second day. The pantry starts selling the food on second day, but for some reason, everyone was selling biryani as breakfast. I somehow managed to get a Puri and Batata bhaji at New Bongaigaon else I'd have skipped the breakfast.
The lunch was a simple dal - rice with extra rice instead of paratha. It was overpriced, at Rs. 130 which is illegal. In previous Avadh Assam express trip, they never sold any food item above the MRP rate.
By third day, the train was a lot more peaceful, though a lot of waitlist passengers were still in the train who weren't as bothersome. But the sleeper class was still like a general bogie and the stench coming from the berth was horrid. The 3 AC felt like sleeper class and the stench there wasn't any better.
I'd suggest you to avoid any breakfast options from Bhubaneshwar or Cuttack and wait till Khurda Road to obtain a decent tasting Wada Sambar or Dahi Wada. You'll also get biryani option which I didn't try here. By afternoon, you'll reach Vishakhapatnam where a lot of options for eating are available including e-catering as well as station vendors. I opted for e-catering which was expensive option for the quantity that was provided. By night, there are dinner options available at Vijaywada, but since our train arrived late, few stores were available. Though tea and coffee can still be availed. You still need to be careful about your belongings here as unauthorized people can enter your coach at this time.
The next day morning, as the train reached Katpadi, I was blessed with delicious Idli-Wada sambar. In further stations, a lot of great south Indian eating options are available, along with Delicious coffee in Palakkad. I'd suggest you to order online once you enter Kerala if you're not fond of Biryani options that are available there. Better order for both lunch and dinner if the train gets delayed, as the delay is hard to be covered in Kerala due to low MPS (80-90) in the main SRR-CAPE line. Don't expect the delay of more than 2 hr to be covered once the train enters Kerala.
Overall, this train remains occupied almost throughout the journey till Tamil Nadu during the season time and the punctuality is not maintained once this train enter Odisha. This is not at all a safe train as anyone tries to enter this 2 AC coach. Due to only option being available from inner northeast to deep south, you'll never find any seat in this train post 2.5 months of ARP out of 4 months.
