The trip...finally concludes!

My long trip finally concluded this morning! The last leg of the journey was really forgettable. My last leg was from Cherthala to Ernakulam by 6307 Intercity Express, and Ernakulam to Bangalore by 2683 Bangalore express. The loco for the first train was WDM2 #16877 of Ernakulam, and the loco for Bangalore express was WAM4 #20549 of Arakkonam.

Overall, the journey was badly delayed. The first train was about 20 minutes late, and the second train topped all charts! We left late by 4 hours and 30 minutes from Bangalore, and reached Bangalore delayed by about 5 hours and 35 minutes! We left Ernakulam at 2130 instead of 1700, and arrived Bangalore at 0955 instead of 0420! Too frustrated by the delay, I preferred taking a bus instead of "donating" to a Taxi driver. The Volvo bus was held up traffic block, and it took more than 90 minutes to travel a mere 13 kms distance from the City Railway station to the stop near home! 

To sum it up: a very forgettable end to the otherwise marvellous trip! Images coming very soon, with more details...

Comments

Anonymous said…
We left Ernakulam at 2130 instead of 1700

Ouch! I think the inordinate delay was due to the non-availability of a slot at ERS, which is extremely busy at most times of the day. Also, any idea as to why the Mangala's rake was used when the original rake had already arrived by 1630?

Images coming very soon, with more details...

Looking forward to them...on the positive side, you must have gotten plenty of action at ERS!
Binai K Sankar said…
The original rake arrived at 1755, and not 1630. According to RB restrictions, rakes are required to be taken to the coaching yard for inspection and basic maintenance - the entire "exercise" takes around 6 hours. And, the train is maintained at ERS, and the rake is reaching there after a 48 hr+ ride. So, a rake that arrived at 1755 had no chance of departing before 2355! The rake of Mangala too had arrived only sometime around 1430 or so. So 1430 + 6 hours works out to 2030. The rake was brought in at 2100 (the composition of Mangala and 2683 differs). It was in now way related to availability of slots....