[landcruiser123]

Thanks for sharing. This thread certainly brought back a lot of memories. The last I traveled a long distance (>500km or 14 hours) by train was in 2012. And 2012 was back in the pre Wifi & pre-Jio days. I had so much quality time with my family.

My last train journey in India was in Jan 2018 and I must say that trains, infrastructure, and service (online & offline) have improved significantly, especially since 2014. The civic sense of people is still lagging.

BTW, I feel Trains can actually be safer than a plane during COVID due to larger spaces and more air circulation. Needless to say, people also need to careful and behave in accordance with the instructions of the public health authorities.

[jkrishnakj]

I forgot to ask one question - do passengers still get disturbed by the local tea/coffee vendors who jump into any coach anytime and disturb sleep? I remember the days where such vendors never used to differentiate a reserved/unreserved coach and generally walk through every coach and wake people up from 4 am onwards. I hope Railways have curbed such practices.

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

2012 was back in the pre Wifi & pre-Jio days. I had so much quality time with my family.

BTW, I feel Trains can actually be safer than a plane during COVID due to larger spaces and more air circulation

Thank You @landcruiser123. Yes, 2012 was when wifi plans were limited to 2GB a month with speeds upto 2Mbps and today we have 2GB a day plans.

I agree with you on trains being safer overall from a COVID perspective, but the only catch is longer time inside. That way, non-AC travel should be virtually zero risk.

On this journey, I had a sneak peek into the second class seating coach at the end of the train and found it full, but not a single passenger extra over the available seats.

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

I forgot to ask one question - do passengers still get disturbed by the local tea/coffee vendors who jump into any coach anytime and disturb sleep?

There were platform vendors who got in at Ongole, Vijayawada, Warangal and Jalgaon, but nobody stepped in between 8pm and 8am. The rooster was the dip tea guy from the pantry who came in at 5:30am saying," kouphee dip chai kouphee".

[deepak_misra]

Waves of nostalgia !!

Though I took my last train journey almost 16 years back I was a veteran in the period early 70s till late 90s

I guess a book would not be enough to chronicle all the experiences but some memorable routes were

- 1DN - 2UP Howrah Bombai Howrah mail (via Nagpur)
- Some train between Mangalore and HOwrah. This was a night trip in summer in sleeper class. One had to alight in Chennai and the bogey was detached and attached to the Chennai Howrah Mail. Having a bath in the railway waiting room was something adventurous i did.

The most scary experience was when I was on the platform and the train started moving. I ran and held on the door which was locked by the TTE with a chain. Had to hold on to the fast moving train for about 10 minutes till the TTE was located.

It is bad form to criticize a fellow TBHP member but someone had claimed that there is nothing like a fighter plane banking in flight.

I had to ofcourse correct him:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/comme...ml#post2760958 (Railway Pics)

[Salil]

As with most if the responses, Nostalgia!
Reminded me of my school days when I just couldn't wait for the summer vacations to start so we could make this long distance Delhi - Trivandrum journeys! Those were the days - the sights, the sounds and well the smells too. It's been almost 2 and a half decades since my last long distance rail travel, the last being on the Trivandrum rajdhani.

[DualSwift]

Thank you for sharing. Trains have always been my passion and until recently (i.e. before extensively 'studying' Team-BHP), all my trips were only via Trains; it was either trains or no journey at all .

Back in February 2020, I undertook a solo trip from Bangalore to Karwar and back - left Bangalore on Friday 28th Feb and was back on Monday 2nd March. Reason = Trains, especially the Konkan Railway stretch.

Before the lockdown, there used to be a daily train from Mangalore to Madgaon: 22636 Intecity Express. It used to start from Mangalore at 8:15 AM and reach Karwar at 12:55 PM. The average speed was only about 56 KMPH and this train had only 9 coaches which were almost always empty, which was just perfect as I could choose the right-hand window side seat and settle down for the journey. I couldn't take off my eyes for even a minute at the backwaters and greenery. The train had an aggressive schedule and used to pick-up speed in no time due to the puny load; the rush of watching the scenery flash by with the train doing full speed just cannot be described.

Attaching a few pics of the journey and the Karwar beach for reference.

P.S - Last year, I was diagnosed with having nasal polyps which meant that I wasnt supposed to expose my face to too much of air, so I had started wearing a mask then itself. But when the opportunity presented itself for a solo train ride, I just couldn't resist.

[v1p3r]

What a lovely thread, vigsom! Makes me feel a nostalgia for decades gone, with their train journeys. Your pictures and descriptions of a nearly-empty train have given me ideas about hopping onto one for a holiday.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by vigsom

On this journey, I had a sneak peek into the second class seating coach at the end of the train and found it full, but not a single passenger extra over the available seats.

Hi @vigsom - there seem to be a bunch of chennai-vadodara combo bhpians on the forum!

A few questions with regards to an upcoming ~22 hour Chennai - Mumbai trip we are planning to take in a 3-tier AC coach.

- Are the # of seats for passengers being limited by the railways by any chance - or was the (only) 12 passengers in your coach only a coincidence. We seem to have the full coach booked (2-tier & SL were in RAC/WL)

- You mentioned you got tea served - was the pantry car active for your train? I believe the pantry car isn't going to be offered on my train (atleast my train has that upfront message)

- How cold was the temperature maintained? Especially as there are no blankets being provided and on a general basis warmer temps are better with regards to the situation

- I know it's a moot point now, but were there any concerns with regards to the risk of infection? Were folks wearing masks throughout the journey? I feel that's going to be extremely tough.

- There seems to be general articles on how the air inside an AC coach will be changed/replaced more frequently with the air changing at least 12 times per hour. Did you notice any of that sort?

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

- Are the # of seats for passengers being limited by the railways by any chance - or was the (only) 12 passengers in your coach only a coincidence. We seem to have the full coach booked (2-tier & SL were in RAC/WL)

Not at all. All available seats barring the HO, special and Tatkal quotas are offered for booking under the General Quota. In my travel, there were only 14 seats of the 52 occupied. You must be taking 02163 LTT MAS special which anyways has good patronage, hence the cut-o-cut availability of seats

You mentioned you got tea served - was the pantry car active for your train? I believe the pantry car isn't going to be offered on my train (atleast my train has that upfront message)

The pantry car was active, but only tea/milk was being made on board. Everything else was loaded on at strategic stations. I'd suggest you take dry snacks along with some items like say idlis with gunpowder. You can have tea/coffee enroute at stations.

How cold was the temperature maintained

I found, surprisingly, the coach ambient temperature to be approx 26 degrees.C. I did carry with me a bedsheet, a thin quilt, something to cover my ears assuming it would be cold. You'd need to carry blankets with you. No linen is provided on the train.

were there any concerns with regards to the risk of infection? Were folks wearing masks throughout the journey? I feel that's going to be extremely tough.

I believe this is a risk one takes wherever one goes. Building immunity and maintaining social distancing is the key. I had a small bottle of sanitizer and kept cleaning my hands when I walked to the loo or got off the train and got in.

As far as I know, enough fresh air comes in. So nothing to worry on this count.

Enjoy the journey and post a travelogue.

There may be Chennai-Vadodara combo bhpians, but I am All India. Jai Hind !!

[sameer sultan]

Wow!

Thanks for sharing the excellent travelogue Vigsom on trains which is a rarity!

I see from your pictures IRCTC is catering the Wagh Bakri Chai which is a sort of premium tea from North India and it is quiet strong and tasty. Good to know they are offering quality stuff. There is a Wagh Bakri outlet in Connaught Place, where I had the excellent tea. I wonder whether this is a norm or just a one off where this tea is sold by the railways.

My last train journey was in February 2020, I havent got a reason yet to get on a train really miss it. Train journeys are something it has got its own charm.

The 2Tier coach without the curtains looks nice and airy. At first I thought its the 3Tier coach. Hope they keep it this way in future too.

You spending time to just look out the window and click pictures and not just be reading some book or scrolling twitter has given us some beautiful pictures. I love the Krishna Barrage whenever I cross it gives goosebumps.

Nice to see the clean Tirchy Underpass and the other stations en route which are getting spruced up. COVID-19 has brought some positives where importance to cleanliness is emphasised a lot in public places.