Kalyan-Kolhapur-Kalyan

2010-07-10

Shantanu Kulkarni

Part 1:- KalYaN to KOlhaPur by 1011 Mahalaxmi Exp. 10th July 2010.

As my previous to trip KOP was in Dec’ 09 when entire KYN-PUNE line was DC, I
was desperately waiting for opportunity to travel on same line under AC
traction. So booked SL ticket in 1011 Mahalaxmi Exp for me & my family. I booked
tickets for 10th Jul on 11th Jun and so comfortably managed to get two LBs.
With the excitement to travel on S-E line under AC for the first time, reached
KYN at 21:00, late running 2860 HoWraH-CSTM Gitanjali Exp was departing from
PF-5 & 7618 NandED-CSTM Tapovan Exp was entering PF-6 with a KYN WCAM-3. 2111
CSTM-AMravatI Exp was about to arrive on PF-4. Being habituated to land on PF-5
for S-E train, we settled at position of S-9 coach. Meanwhile 2111 was about
leave from PF-4 with KYN WCAM-3#21947. Amidst EMU (Electric Multiple Unit)traffic from other platforms,
2163 DadaR-Chennai Exp arrived on PF-5 at 21:15 with KYN WCAM-3. In attempt to
entertain my 1-year old son, I was trying to amuse him with lot of IR objects
around. My efforts didn’t go in vain when large bell on PF caught his attention & started playing with it. As starter
for 2163 changed to yellow, WCAM-3 hooted out; it caught our attention. With
this distraction, we were looking at WCAM-3 & the signalman ranged the bell with
full force. And as we were very close to it, my kid stunned with the bang &
started his own “hooter”. It took few minutes to calm him down. As 2163
cleared the PF, he(my son) was pointing to a CST bound MRVC EMU (Electric Multiple Unit)on PF-7 as if
it’s ours train only & wanted to board. Amongst all this action, Mahalaxmi was
announced to arrive on PF-4. The change of PF is due to rescheduling of LTT-HWH
2101 Dnyaneshwari Exp. And after a long time, I got to see Mahalaxmi reaching
KYN at sharp 21:25; with WCAM-3#21932 at it’s helm & DC panto on rear cab. The
rake had extra A2 coach at front end; making it 19-coaches load.

My coach (No. 92202 ICF made) was not at all in good condition with in terms of
berths, wall panels, toilets, marks of removal of SMBs, etc. While settling on
the seats, I had to struggle a bit to acquire our LB from a stub-born
middle-aged fellow passenger. We left KYN at 21:35. Speed was moderated (60-65
approx) till Badlapur. Then the action begin. I was hoping to slow down a bit at
DC-AC NZ just after Badalapur, but it didn’t & kept on with same pace. The speed
appeared to be about about 85-90 kmph. Crossed 6532 YPR-AII Garib Nawaz Exp with
WDx somewhere between Badalapur & Vangani, followed by 1050 KOP-ADI Exp at
Vangani with BL WCAM-1. It was continuous speedy run between Badalapur &
Bhivpuri Road, leaving Vangani, Shelu & Neral behind in jiffy. Passed Bhivpuri
Road at about 50 kmph & entered KJT PF-1 at 22:25. Couldn’t spot Bankers details
but probably, it was a triplet. Surprisingly, no extra bankers were present on
loop lines for next train (2527 CST-LatUR Exp. and 1017 Chalukya Exp.). Those
might be on their way down the ghat. After bankers’ attachment, left KJT at
22:35. Reached LNL at 23:05. PAS made announcement for LP to start the train
immediately, finally left at 23:15.
Despite of nonstop high speed run between LNL & Shivajinagar, reached PUNE PF-1
mere 5 minutes before time. 2163 was on PF-2 with Cream-Orange GTL WDMx#17944 in
LHF mode. It departed at 00:20. The long honking of GTL loco again made my kid
to start his own “hooter”. For this reason, I had planned to book in 3AC
accommodation, but it had already gone in W/L30+ on 11th June itself. So it’s
very clear that demand for AC class has been increased now a days & it’s high
time to augment the AC class seats for this train. Meanwhile 6382 CAPE-CST was
waiting at outer to let 2163 cross over to line towards Daund. 6382 arrived on
PF-3 with Baldie GY WDM-3A#14017 in LHF mode.
At PUNE, 1st Loop line bet PF-1 & 2 was occupied by a derated PUNE WDMx#17391 in
blue livery. Soon, BCNA load occupied 2nd loop line with KYN-WCAG-1#21975. By
this time 1011 was ready to depart with blue PUNE WDMx#16522 in SHF. But was
made to wait till 00:33 to receive starter. Finally left Pune at 00:35 with
delay of 20 minutes. After Phursungi, decided to hit the sack. I woke up when
train already taking breath at Miraj at 05:50. Train covered 280 kms of PUNE-MRJ
in 5:15 hrs with avg speed of 53.33 kms. This train has almost 1 hr slack time
between on this section.

Started from MRJ at 06:00, took sharp right(almost 90 degrees) turn to enter KOP
line. With halting-at-all- stations pattern (Jaisingpur, Hatkangale, Rukadi &
Valivade), reached KOP at 07:05 on PF-1. 1030 KOP-CSTM Koyana was ready to
depart with KJM WDP-4#20031 in LHF mode on adjacent PF. Finally got down &
without missing to take tempting view of tiny royal station building of
Kolhapur, left for the bro’s(railfan Shashank Kulkarni) place.

Part 2:- KolhaPur to Kalyan by 1012 Mahalaxmi Exp. 11th July 2010.

After a brief visit to KOP city, left for station to catch 1012 KOlhaPur-CSTM
Mahalaxmi Exp. Reached PF-2 at 20:00 hrs. Train had already taken it’s guard
with blue GTL WDMx#17612 in SHF mode. My coach S1 was 6th from loco. It was an
“ancient” coach 89213, worst than S9 in the same rake. As I was about to
getting inside the coach, decided to check the chart(which I seldom do) only to
confirm my ticket has not being “upgraded”. Forget about the upgradation,
something else was waiting for me. As I was checking the chart, shocked to see
someone else’ name with different gender & age against mine although ticket no.
& PNR no. were same as on the chart. It took few minutes for me to realise what
went wrong. The ticket was booked on my wife’s name instead of mine. Original
copy of ticket was also showing my wife’s details, which I had missed to note
earlier. Now this was real shock for me. With no option to board the train
“ticketless”, started to think how to tackle the TTE in such situation.
My only concern was TTE should not cancel my ticket & allot it someone in WL
although I was ready to pay full fare. At next station(Valivade) after KOP, I
was asked for exchange offer of seat by a group. But as I had demanded for SLB
at the time booking, I politely rejected as I wouldn’t have got another SLB. The
“group” was well prepared for “exchange offer” as they had already noted
from chart that a female passenger was holding “my” seat, but surprised to
see a male passenger. Then I had to explain them the goof-up. On a humorous
note, I was suggested to wear a “Burakha” when TTE comes. As train left
Valivade, TTE started his job from other end of the coach. After completing
halfway, hurriedly moved to some other coach for unknown reason & didn’t turn up
till Miraj.

Then at MRJ, a group of 8-10 people boarded our coach; probably with W/L tickets
& were desperate to see TTE. One of them managed to locate him; brought him to
our coach. While I was holding my nerves, TTE left the coach again after
allotting seats to those W/L passengers. As train continued it’s run, SangaLI.
arrived at 21:55; left at 22:00. Vasco bound Goa Exp was waiting at SLI with
PUNE WDG-3A#13559 in LHF mode. By the time, train left SLI, I was sensing a
relief as being frequent traveler on this section, I knew that TTE hardly comes
after SLI. And it was no exception that day. With the clock ticking to 22:45, &
no signs of TTE, decided to call-off my day & surrendered myself to sleep. For a
change, for the first time I was not at all waiting for TTE to check my ticket.

Next day, while trying to recall & analyse the situation, few queries came to my
mind for which I would like to seek clarification from other members..

1. Shall I get preference over W/L passenger to hold the seat by paying full fare again?
2. Can TTE cancel the ticket & allot to someone else despite of the fact I was carrying original ticket & ready to pay full fare again?
3. How can I trace who was the responsible for this mistake happened at the time of booking?
4. If it’s mistake of booking clerk, will I get full refund?
5. Whom should I approach for this procedure?