#Travelogue
My first solo long distance train journey in India
After spending around 2.5 years in Canada, I came back to India on October 1, 2023. Even though the friendship between me and trains date back to my childhood, but I had never travelled in a long distance train alone.
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So, I decided to do a solo trip to Mangalore. It was the time between Dussehra and Diwali, in November of 2023. I decided to book my tickets in 22656 NZM - ERS SF Express, which was in waiting but I still decided to go for it as the W/L was just 3 and it was still more than a week for my journey. The journey was from Nizamuddin while I am living in Jalandhar district, so it was time to book for my second train, the first of the journey, to go to Delhi. I had a lot of options like Golden Temple Mail and Chhattisgarh Express that would take me directly to Nizamuddin without station hopping. But my father suggested me to book for an earlier train, so i booked in 12032 ASR - NDLS Shatabdi Express making it my first journey in a premium train.
Now the journey day, 3rd of November 2023. I left my home at 4 in the evening and caught a bus towards Jalandhar. De-boarded the bus 2 km before my scheduled stop. I was to get off at Pathankot Chowk/Bypass, but I de-boarded 2 kms before when my bus stopped. Started walking and got an auto to reach Jalandhar City JN just 5 minutes later. The train arrived 10 minutes after the scheduled time i was allotted an aisle seat on the 2 seat side, but seeing the window seat empty, i sat on it thinking I will get up when my co-passenger shows up and asks me to leave his/her seat. My co passenger came at Phagwara but he didn’t say anything about me occupying his seat and started to do his work. The train’s next halts were Ludhiana, Rajpura and Ambala Cantt, didn’t make any unscheduled halts and after Ambala Cantt, the train continued its high speed run up to Sabzi Mandi. Then it crawled all the way up to New Delhi, stopping a few times in that 4-5 km journey eventually arriving 10-20 minutes delayed.
After arriving at New Delhi, I decided to take the NDLS - PLWL EMU that leaves at 00:05 hrs from NDLS as i had seen on IRI but the platform of that keeps changing as informed by one staff member at NDLS “Bhai wo kahi pe bhi aa jaati hai” and told me to follow the LED boards on the foot over bridge. I followed and saw the number 04440 over platform number 8 if I remember correctly. Its rake was getting placed on the platform as I was walking with it. Found an empty cabin and sat on a seat. The EMU departed and after 10-12 minutes, I was at Hazrat Nizamuddin station.
Now, the real wait begins.
I decided to wait on the platform instead of going to a waiting room. The station was fairly empty as the passenger movement and train movement is quite less in the middle of the night. At 4 in the morning, I was pretty sure that the rake will be placed by 4:30 but the wait wasn’t over. And did I tell you that my ticket got confirmed. Yes it did and I got Side Lower berth yay 🥳.
Anyways, the rake was placed exactly at 5 am, at the time of departure. I quickly found my seat in A1 coach and did my bedding. I laid down as the train departed at 5:35, 35 minutes delayed. I slept soon enough as I hadn’t slept the whole night. The train halted at its usual halts Mathura and Bharatpur as I was catching some zzzzzzzzz. At Bharatpur, I saw some train overtaking us, It was 22414 NZM - MAO Rajdhani Express. The delay was quite much when the train left Sawai Madhopur but it was mostly covered till Kota JN. My eyes were wide open looking through the window enjoying the views as the train was continuously running at 130 kmph. Ulysse Speedometer rocks haha. Most of the delay was covered until Vadodara and now it was time to get some food. I decided to go for e-catering at Surat. I opened the app and decided to order from Tipsy - Topsy restaurant as I had heard about it a lot. I got my food delivered at Surat and it took me 10 minutes just to open the plastic seal yes the heat seal was too much but the taste of the food made up for the frustration. After Surat, my co passenger, the passenger from the upper berth got down as his stop as approaching, we talked for a bit about our destinations and he eventually got off at Vapi, I lied down for the night and the train arrived at Vasai Road at almost its scheduled time, albeit a few minutes delayed. The coach was half empty at this point and at Panvel, some ladies came to their allotted adjacent seats. I slept soon enough and woke up when the train was traversing through the mountains, rivers and forests of Konkan region. I was mesmerised by all of it and clicked a lot of pictures and made some videos. Now the train was more than an hour delayed, reason i don’t know. The train halted at Karmali for good 10 minutes and covered a lot of its delay until Madgaon. It was a great humid experience in Goa in November, thanks to Arabian Sea. After departure from Madgaon, the train soon entered in Karnataka, the first halt of the state was, Karwar, a small but beautiful station. The train had some unscheduled halts between Karwar and Udupi but the real torture began after departure from Udupi. Even though, the train gained a respectable speed of 100 kmph but it lasted for a couple of minutes until Nandikoor, the train halted there for quite some time and the story of unscheduled halts continued until my destination, Mangaluru JN. Now, the reason of all the unscheduled halts was 01185 LTT - MAJN Special Express, kinda unbelievable as the special train was getting more priority than our SuperFast train. Anyways, the train arrived Mangaluru after a delay of more than an hour.
Took me quite some time to envision and pen down.
Thanks for reading such a long article
-Gagan
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My first solo long distance train journey in India
After spending around 2.5 years in Canada, I came back to India on October 1, 2023. Even though my friendship with trains dates back to my childhood, I had never travelled in a long-distance train alone.
So, I decided to do a solo trip to Mangalore. It was the time between Dussehra and Diwali, in November of 2023. I decided to book my tickets in 22656 NZM - ERS SF Express, which was in waiting but I still decided to go for it as the W/L was just 3 and it was still more than a week for my journey. The journey was from Nizamuddin while I am living in Jalandhar district, so it was time to book for my second train, the first of the journey, to go to Delhi. I had a lot of options like Golden Temple Mail and Chhattisgarh Express that would take me directly to Nizamuddin without station hopping. But my father suggested me to book for an earlier train, so I booked in 12032 ASR - NDLS Shatabdi Express making it my first journey in a premium train.
Now the journey day, 3rd of November 2023. I left my home at 4 in the evening and caught a bus towards Jalandhar. De-boarded the bus 2 km before my scheduled stop. I was to get off at Pathankot Chowk/Bypass, but I de-boarded 2 kms before when my bus stopped. Started walking and got an auto to reach Jalandhar City JN just 5 minutes later. The train arrived 10 minutes after the scheduled time I was allotted an aisle seat on the 2 seat side, but seeing the window seat empty, I sat on it thinking I will get up when my co-passenger shows up and asks me to leave his/her seat. My co passenger came at Phagwara but he didn’t say anything about me occupying his seat and started to do his work. The train’s next halts were Ludhiana, Rajpura and Ambala Cantt, didn’t make any unscheduled halts and after Ambala Cantt, the train continued its high speed run up to Sabzi Mandi. Then it crawled all the way up to New Delhi, stopping a few times in that 4-5 km journey eventually arriving 10-20 minutes delayed.
After arriving at New Delhi, I decided to take the NDLS - PLWL EMU that leaves at 00:05 hrs from NDLS as I had seen on IRI but the platform of that keeps changing as informed by one staff member at NDLS “Bhai wo kahi pe bhi aa jaati hai” and told me to follow the LED boards on the foot over bridge. I followed and saw the number 04440 over platform number 8 if I remember correctly. Its rake was getting placed on the platform as I was walking with it. Found an empty cabin and sat on a seat. The EMU departed and after 10-12 minutes, I was at Hazrat Nizamuddin station.
Now, the real wait begins.
I decided to wait on the platform instead of going to a waiting room. The station was fairly empty as the passenger movement and train movement is quite less in the middle of the night. At 4 in the morning, I was pretty sure that the rake will be placed by 4:30 but the wait wasn’t over. And did I tell you that my ticket got confirmed. Yes it did and I got Side Lower berth yay 🥳.
Anyways, the rake was placed exactly at 5 am, at the time of departure. I quickly found my seat in A1 coach and did my bedding. I laid down as the train departed at 5:35, 35 minutes delayed. I slept soon enough as I hadn’t slept the whole night. The train halted at its usual halts Mathura and Bharatpur as I was catching some zzzzzzzzz. At Bharatpur, I saw some train overtaking us, It was 22414 NZM - MAO Rajdhani Express. The delay was quite much when the train left Sawai Madhopur but it was mostly covered till Kota JN. My eyes were wide open looking through the window enjoying the views as the train was continuously running at 130 kmph. Ulysse Speedometer rocks haha. Most of the delay was covered until Vadodara and now it was time to get some food. I decided to go for e-catering at Surat. I opened the app and decided to order from Tipsy - Topsy restaurant as I had heard about it a lot. I got my food delivered at Surat and it
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Mere pehla solo long distance train journey India mein
Canada mein 2.5 saal bitane ke baad, main 1 October, 2023 ko India vapis aaya. Halaanki mujhe aur trains ki dosti bachpan se hi hai, par main kabhi bhi akele long distance train mein safar nahi kiya tha.
Toh, maine Mangalore jaane ka solo trip karne ka faisla kiya. November 2023 mein Dussehra aur Diwali ke beech ka time tha. Maine 22656 NZM - ERS SF Express mein apna ticket book karne ka faisla kiya, jo ki waiting mein tha, lekin phir bhi maine aage badhne ka faisla kiya kyunki W/L sirf 3 tha aur meri journey ke liye abhi ek hafta se zyada time tha. Journey Nizamuddin se thi, aur main Jalandhar district mein rehta hoon, to Delhi jaane ke liye mere dusre train, yaani pehli journey ke liye ticket book karna jaruri tha. Mere paas bahut saare options the jaise Golden Temple Mail aur Chhattisgarh Express, jo mujhe bina kisi station hopping ke sidhe Nizamuddin le jaate. Lekin mere papa ne mujhe pehle train ke liye book karne ka suggestion diya, to maine 12032 ASR - NDLS Shatabdi Express mein booking kar di, jo ki meri premium train mein pehli journey thi.
Ab journey ka din, 3 November 2023. Maine apna ghar shaam ke 4 baje chhod diya aur Jalandhar jaane wali bus pakdi. Apne scheduled stop se 2 km pehle bus se utar gaya. Mujhe Pathankot Chowk/Bypass par utarna tha, lekin main 2 km pehle utar gaya jab meri bus ruk gayi. Chalne laga aur Jalandhar City JN pahunchne ke liye auto le liya, sirf 5 minute mein. Train apne scheduled time se 10 minute der se aayi. Mujhe 2 seat side mein aisle seat allot ki gayi thi, lekin window seat khali dekh kar, maine uspe baithne ka faisla kiya, sochta tha ki jab mere co-passenger aayenge aur apni seat chhodne ke liye kahenge, to main uth jaaunga. Mere co-passenger Phagwara par aaye, lekin unhone meri seat par baithne ke baare mein kuchh nahi kaha aur apna kaam karne lage. Train ka next halt Ludhiana, Rajpura aur Ambala Cantt tha, koi bhi unscheduled halt nahi kiya aur Ambala Cantt ke baad, train apni high speed se Sabzi Mandi tak chalti rahi. Phir yeh New Delhi tak chali, is 4-5 km journey mein kuchh baar rukti hui, aur aakhirkar 10-20 minute der se pahunchi.
New Delhi pahunchne ke baad, maine NDLS - PLWL EMU lene ka faisla kiya, jo ki NDLS se 00:05 baje chalta hai, jaise maine IRI par dekha tha, lekin iska platform badalte rehta hai, jaise ki NDLS par ek staff member ne bataya, “Bhai wo kahi pe bhi aa jaati hai” aur mujhe foot over bridge par LED boards ko follow karne ko kaha. Maine follow kiya aur platform number 8 par 04440 number dekha, agar mujhe yaad sahi hai. Jab main uske saath chal raha tha, to iski rake platform par lagayi ja rahi thi. Mujhe ek khali cabin mila aur main ek seat par baith gaya. EMU chala aur 10-12 minute baad, main Hazrat Nizamuddin station par tha.
Ab, asli wait shuru hota hai.
Maine waiting room jaane ki jagah platform par wait karne ka faisla kiya. Station kaafi khali tha kyunki raat ke beech mein passenger movement aur train movement kaafi kam hota hai. Subah ke 4 baje, main yakin tha ki rake 4:30 tak lag jaayega, lekin wait khatam nahi hua. Aur kya maine tumhe bataya ki mera ticket confirm ho gaya tha? Haan, ho gaya tha aur mujhe Side Lower berth mila, yay 🥳.
Waise bhi, rake bilkul 5 baje lag gaya, departure time par. Maine jaldi se A1 coach mein apni seat dhoondh li aur apna bedding kar liya. Main let gaya jaise hi train 5:35 baje chali, 35 minute der se. Maine kaafi jaldi sone ki koshish ki kyunki main puri raat nahi soya tha. Train apne usual halt Mathura aur Bharatpur par rukti rahi, jaise main kuchh zzzzzzzzz le raha tha. Bharatpur par, maine kuchh train ko humse overtake karte dekha. Yeh 22414 NZM - MAO Rajdhani Express thi. Train ke Sawai Madhopur chhodne par kaafi der ho gayi thi, lekin yeh zyadatar der Kota JN tak cover ho gayi. Meri aankhon mein khushi thi aur main khidki se bahar dekhe ja raha tha, jaise train continuously 130 kmph ki speed se chal rahi thi. Ulysse Speedometer rocks haha. Zyadatar der Vadodara tak cover ho gayi thi aur ab khane ka time aa gaya tha. Maine Surat par e-catering karne ka faisla kiya. Maine app open kiya aur Tipsy - Topsy restaurant se order karne ka faisla kiya, kyunki maine iske baare mein bahut kuchh suna tha. Mujhe Surat par mera khana deliver ho gaya aur yeh…