Ammi Jaan kahti thi Railfanning se bada koi dharm nhi hota or koi Railfan chhota nhi hota - Shanzil Kabir

A DAY IN THE LIFE [Lucknow to Allahabad]

I had initially booked my tickets in Ganga Gomti AC Chair Car hoping that it'll show retiring room at ALD/PRYJ as well and I can book it. But nope, since the train goes to 'Prayagraj Sangam', it did NOT allow me to book a retiring room at Prayagraj. Ironically, it was allowing me to book retiring room not only at Lucknow Jn but at Gomti Nagar as well at the source station despite both those stations coming under different rail zones even. Why this...
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disparity? Allowing booking at other stations in Lucknow area but not allowing booking in Prayagraj for trains that come at other stations of the same city? I do not know.

Due to this, I canceled my ticket in this train and booked 2A in Triveni Express which goes straight to Prayagraj Jn. This did the deed for me. I reached the station couple of hours before. Had to complain since there is overcharging at LKO NR for bottled water and/or cold drinks at some shops. The RPF is disinterested, the station master doesn't care and the Dy/Commercial is not at his desk. Contrast this with LJN NER, where one can go straight to the station director and he immediately takes action.

Eitherways, the train came, I took my upper berth and slept for some time. When I woke up, the lower berth was empty, came there, and remained there between Unchahar Jn - Prayagraj Jn. This train is very slow, stops frequently [heck, it has 4 stops in Prayagraj itself]. Ironically, sleep came again and I nodded off. My phone rang when the train was entering Prayagraj's platforms and then I was able to take my bag and get off the train [ no big deal though, since the train has a ~30 minute stoppage there due to Loco Reversal and someone or the other would have come to claim their lower berth, thus awakening me, most likely]. Took a stroll round the station, looked in vain for the retiring rooms for some time before finally finding it and getting inside it.

Ironically, the dormitories were majorly empty [one whole AC dormitory was empty atleast] . There was also on demand booking at the retiring room counter though I am not sure if they would have honored a ticket not directly starting from the main station.