I was at Lucknow NR/NER [both lie next to each other] at 0400 hrs only. Was surprised to see significant nos. of passengers in the seriously early morning service to Kasganj. There was the PPTA bound ICE standing but the main attraction was the orange liveried LJN-DDN VB. I am not personally a fan of this VB since it starts quite early, runs only on 110 kph + 50 kph [post Haridwar] capable route, but due to not so great alternatives, decent pax were waiting for the train to open and board it.

Gomti...
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Express clocked in at 0500 hrs at PF #1 of LKO NR. It has 2 CC and 1 HA coach [3 AC coaches only; basically meant for daily/last minute travellers for in between stations]. I had a window seat and the AC Chair Car had a laid back look. I took a nap between LKO and ON. It properly fills in at CNB with as expected, normal passengers and ahem, "staff".

This "staff" is a curious term. I do know how IR defines it. One guy boarded from LKO NR only and just bumped from seat to seat as passengers rolled in. Police officers only see these 2 coaches out of almost 22. The AC CC once had people standing in vestibules and throughout the standing area of the inside of the coach itself. This, when the TTE was actively checking tickets and apart from the odd pax, hardly said anything to these extra pax. Just start slapping fines on these "staff" and IR will get their money's worth back in no time. It's not like the TTE had anything really to do. He didn't go to 2S coaches [never does; traveled via it]. If a TTE can't manage 3 coaches[out of which one is HA1 where hardly any of these extra passengers dare to go], is he getting paid to do nothing?

Enough of the rant, not that it mattered to me the most, since I didn't have to bother with the aisle seat. I saw stations whisper by and the train stop at multiple points on the way b/w CNB and ETW. The dedicated freight corridor zig zags across your view throughout the time. Even tried footplating once but it was just too hot. Funny thing is the BSB-NDLS VB comes to CNB 1.5 hours AFTER Gomti Express, Overtakes it [it overtook us post Hathras Jn] and reaches an hour BEFORE it. Lots of slack given between Khurja Jn and Ghaziabad. Reached latter 15 minutes before time where as expected, cold drinks were being sold at a markup. The Meerut RRTS [which is only half functional/built upto Duhai as of this writing] train was visible running quite empty. Reached Shivaji Bridge and were stopped for ~5 minutes. I just deboarded there, reached 'Barakhambha Road' metro station [ I think that's the nearest one] and ended a 9+ hour train journey that included a lots of naps.

The metro took an hour. I finally reached NDLS. It was hectic and definitely not laidback when compared to most trains. The primary spot was taken by DBRT bound Rajdhani via LKO. Gomti was at PF 12, I think, with it's rake already done in. The doors were still locked apart from general coaches. I had come via the same train in 1A but was going via 2S. I didn't even get a window seat. My aisle seat's reclining function was permanently broken so it was in a reclined position by default.

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train was moderately full at NDLS and I was able to get a spot at the door. I footplated for sometime upto GZB. There was a chainpulling, I think, as well and the train stopped atleast 3 times b/w NDLS and GZB. The newly running rakes b/w Sahibabad and Duhai Depot are visible from rail tracks for some time and they were running almost empty, in contrast to rest of Delhi metro.

At GZB, a ton of crowd came and it became almost nightmarish. Folks standing in vestibules, sitting all over the bay area, [ there were folks sitting on the floor next to me literally blocking any and all access to the bathroom]. The same situation continued atleast upto ETW. The train fortunately, wasn't too late that day[no OT by Tejas for once]. It did suffer couple of other overtakes and trolling at CNB outers but it left CNB with relatively emptier insides and on time. As again, as soon as the train entered inside Lucknow and stopped somewhere b/w Manaknagar and LKO, few folks jumped into the wilderness. I didn't footplate now because I knew that despite being the terminal station, people are stupid and someone or the other will want to jump out of the running train still[ it has happened far too many times for me to have faith on general public anymore; people are willing to literally give a limb just to deboard closer to a foot overbridge].

No TTE ever comes in 2S coaches. They remain ensconced in 1A/2A/CC class only. Ironically, even 1A isn't immune to random people boarding it. On UP side, going from LKO-NDLS, a guy boarded the train from CNB outers upto CNB in 1A and another lady boarded the coach from around ETW, I think.

Amar Ujala Firozabad
Page 5
Date 21/02/2024

One more innocent person has ben killed by Indian Railways.
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Stoppage time at stations must be increased to 5 minutes if there are more then 50 passengers boarding and deboarding.

Also Train Guard(Now Manager) must be careful while train departing and he must inform LP immediately if anyone is still boarding the train.

Automatic closing doors should be installed in all trains.