Trivandrum - Hazarat Nizamudhin Rajadhani Express
It has been long time since we travelled together for a long trip. Due to other commitments this was never happened. However during this annual vacation, it happened to be a favorable time, to plan for this trip. As usual, since we will be going to India, it was decided to plan some places with in India and we cornered Amritsar, Dharamshala, and Delhousie as the final destination. The whole family sat down to decide, the places to visit, connections between places, hotels etc to ensure that we travel less and visit more places. We decided to entrust the booking of hotels and local transport arrangement with Al hind tours Dubai,through their coordinated Miss Simi. The transportation from our home in Trivandrum to Amritsar/Dharamsala and back were booked by me.
Being a ardent fan of Railways, I decided to include train journey in our laps. After much debacle it was decided to take train in the following leg
1. Trivandrum Delhi - Rajdhani Express
2. Delhi Amritsar - Swarna shathabdhi Express
3. Pathankot - Delhi - Uthar sampranthkranthi express
I did all my reservation from UAE through IRCTC app. Even though the flight from Trivandrum Delhi is cheaper than the Train fare, we decided to book train since we never travelled in Rajdhani before which is considered as one of the prestigious trains in India.
Day 1- 03rd August 2017 - Boarded Rajdhani from TVC
On seeing the brand LHB coaches we were excited for the journey ahead. Rajdhani express connects the indian capital Delhi with the state capitals. Each state has got separate Rajdhani Express. All rajdhanis are maintained by Delhi Division. Rajdhanis are fully airconditioned train with food on wheels served which is included in the fare.
We boarded the train, and to our surprise it was only 40% occupied. The biggest drawback is no individual temperature control switch available. When we entered inside of train was like a chiller, with no option to reduce the temperature. Each coach is having individual train assistant, and I called him to reduce the temperature. Blankets and pillows were already placed in your seat.
As this train travels through Konkan and being non electrified section, we were pulled by Diesel engine. We moved out of Trivandrum and started picking up the speed after Kochuveli.
We were greeted by the catering service agent and supplied 1 Liter bottle for each ticket.
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| Dinner |
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| Rasam |
After the dinner we occupied our births for sleep. I vaguely remember crossing Kannur railway station. Morning when I got up train was stopped at Mangalore Jn.
Day 2 04th August 2017
We left Mangalore after a few minutes of halt. Meanwhile breakfast were served. This include option of coffee or tea, Bread slice with omelet. We entered the magnificent Konkan coast coming under Konkan railway. Being from Kerala , the site of Konkan was more or less similar to Kerala, so I dont felt any difference except that the rivers in the Konkan region are so big compared to Kerala rivers.
Meanwhile around 10.00 am we were served Tomato soup. we spend time by playing cards, anthakshari etc as train moved past the Konkan coat and entered the state of Goa and halted at Madgaon. If you are interested to see the famous dudh fall then get down at this station and take a train which proceed towards the castle Rock. We proceeded further towards the Maharashtra State and entered Rathnagiri.
Rathnagiri is the end point of Konkan railway and start of Western railway. Evening snacks consists of Samosa and tea/Coffee served. After Ratnagiri our next scheduled stop was Panvel, a suburb of Mumbai. If your final destination is Mumbai, then get down at this station and switch over to local suburban train from Panvel which will take you to New bombay through vashi lane. Panvel station was deserted and pitch dark and no boarding took place from this station.
We moved slowly and finally approached the Mumbai Delhi trunk Route at Vasai Road thus ending the monotonous single lane track. Now we started picking up the speed as we fly past Surat, Vadodhara Jn where our diesel Monster was replaced with Electric Wap P5 engine in the early morning 3 am.
Day 3 5th August 2017
We continued our journey and morning when I woke up we were slowly passing the Rathlam Jn. This train dont have any scheduled stop at this jn, but since we took side line, we were slowed down and moved past the Ratlam Jn, towards Kota our next scheduled stop. We reached Kota Jn around 10.45 am. Kota is famous for the coaching centres who prepares the IIT/IAS/Medical aspirants and flourished with specialised coaching centres like agarwal, Raos etc. We stopped for 5 minutes
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