IRFCA Mailing List Archive
Messages 4001 - 4020
From: Sankaran Kumar <>
Subject: Re: Homing at Chennai
Date: 02 Nov 1998 19:17:56 -0500
>Not at all--quite the contrary; this is very helpful information. Could
>someone recommend trains from Nagpur to Lucknow?
These are the trains which are available:
6093 Chennai-Lucknow Express: Lv Nagpur Wed, Sun 0300, Arr Lucknow same
day 2100.
5091/5221/5011 Bangalore-Gorakhpur/Cochin-Barauni/Cochin-Gorakhpur
Expresses: Lv Nagpur (5091, Thu) 1905/(5221/5011, Mon,Wed, Fri, Sat)
1850, Arr Lucknow next day 1925.
>
>And one more routing question: In going from Varanasi to Shimla, is it
>necessary (or more time efficient) to go through Delhi? Or is there a
train
>that goes more directly to Kalka via Luchnow Moradabad and Saharanpur?
It is shorter but not time efficient. Also there are no direct trains
on that route. My recommendation is to take a taxi from Varanasi to
Mughalsarai Junction (a distance of about 17 km and across the Ganga)
and board the 2311 Howrah-Delhi-Kalka Mail. Lv Mughalsarai daily 0645
Arr Kalka next day 0500 in time to catch one of the Kalka-Shimla hill
trains. I don't have the schedules, maybe Vijay or
Apurva have the Kalka-Shimla train timings? As you may realize, the
Kalka Mail (as it is popularly known) is classified as a superfast train
by IR. It should carry AC1, AC2 and AC3. If you are in a big group,
you may want to book early, since the quota from Mughalsarai may be
limited.
>
>Regards,
>Alan Sponberg
Good luck!
Kumar
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From: Sankaran Kumar <>
Subject: Poorva Exp and Indo-Pak Expresses
Date: 02 Nov 1998 19:26:27 -0500
In response to queries from Madhav and Anil (hope I got the names
right), the Poorva Expresses 2381/2, 2303/4 are the old 81/2 and 103/4
AC expresses respectively. However unlike the AC expresses which used
to leave from Amritsar on certain days, the Poorva expresses always
leave and terminate at New Delhi.
There is a Indo-Pak Express running from Amritsar to Lahore daily with a
long border stop at Atari. I don't have the current schedule. I will
post the old timings if no one has the recent timings (it should be in
the Northern Railway zonal TT).
Regards
Kumar
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From: PROTIP.DASGUPTA <>
Subject: Re: Through trains in Termini
Date: 02 Nov 1998 20:22:14 -0500
Hi All!
A few more examples of through trains using a termini...
Howrah Station-
1. Trivandrum-Guwahati Exp
2. Cochin-Guwahati Exp.
3. Bangalore-Guwahati Exp.
4. New Delhi-Bhubhanewshwar Rajdhani
These are a few that I can think of!!
One more point hat I would like to make....following up on earlier
discussions on this group....that about train numbers!
5**** is not just North Eastern Railway but also covers North Frontier
Railway (NFR) Also the above (first 3) mentioned trains are NFR homing
trains!
One more thing is that apart from W and NR and maybe a few others, which
I
am not sure off.....all railways have assigned 4 didgit numbers to their
trains. WR and NR passenger trains (not Mail/Exp) have 2-3 digit numbers
not following the 4 didgit convention at all
Someone had also mentioned that CR passenger trains follow the 3 didgit
convention, on the contrary...CR is one railway I know for sure that has
all its trains numbered 21** or 1***
Regards,
Bharat Vohra
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Request for favorite train journeys
Date: 02 Nov 1998 20:31:54 -0500
Gang !
I must appreciate the amount of IR discussion floating on the IRFCA. I
believe we are making history here. Never before was the IR discussed in
so much detail AND with so much love. I feel safe and secure in the
knowledge that there are enough freaks around who share my primary love
(I hope my wife is not reading this !) - the Indian Railways. There are
enough Pravasi Sanghatana (traveler's organizations - IR consumer
societies for the non Hindi speakers) to skin the IR regularly. We are
the only organization that recognizes the genius of the IR and
participates in the daily katha (tales of glory for our non Hindi
speaking buddies). I hope we can maintain the tempo.
Madhav Acharya wrote:
> Hi
>
> The highlight of the evening was "tundla ki tikki" - aloo (potato)
>tikkis (cutlets) freshly made on the platform at Tundla.
Mumbai Pune has the famous Batata Wada at Karjat at the bottom of the
ghat.
> the greatest advertising campaign of the 20th century - one that > >
urges you > to see Prof. Arora of Karolbagh,
> New Delhi for marriage-related counseling - he also has branches in >
> USA > and Canada !
Prof. Arora is everywhere on the IR. The punch line is common - "Rishte
hi Rishte, Amrika , Kanaada, Inglaand aur Videshi rishte" (Marital
proposals available in America, Canada, England and other foreign
countries).
I have done the MGS - HWH section in the daytime (with a lonely WDM 4
greeting the dawn on a siding at Chunar) to MGS in the morning - to
Howrah in the night on a very (very !) late 3004 Dn Mumbai Calcutta mail
via Allahabad. I was lucky to do this in an ordinary first class coupe
so I could see the landscape very clearly. At the end of the 48 hour
journey, my neck was stiff from looking out of the window on one side
and I was so tired that I swore I will not look at another train
again - until a few days later of course !
There are four lines in this trunk of which two are for mail/express/
passenger trains and two are reserved for freight and what freighters
they have ! Every few minutes or so we have a double (or more) headed
WAG 5 or some such fancy loco hauling a coal special crossing the 4
down. When standing at a platform the super freight locos are way before
the platform and the tail end of the train is way after the end of the
station. This is definitely a section to see in detail. The landscape is
lovely - graceful arches is a theme repeated often in structure all over
Bihar - on bridges, station buildings, ordinary houses. I realize how
ugly our own Pune architecture is after a ride through these parts.
I think Varanasi - Mughal Sarai - Howrah is an excellent trip on the IR.
What I realize is that in the beginning of the trip you soak in all the
details - every sign - all the names of stations etc then your brain
slows down to work slowly by the hours that pass.
> The one thing I > found unique about it was that the cars
> used to drive through the center of the station and pick up >
passengers - > of course adding to the mess !
I was picked up in Howrah in this fashion. A grand exit to HWH after a
grand trip. This flyover (flyout ?) is in the old building or the new
building of HWH ?
> BTW why is it called "footplate" ? Does it come from the days
> of the steam loco ?
The term is from the steam days.
> I also noted that each
> time we passed another train, it would turn off its headlight and put
it
> back on again - is that usually done ?
So as not to dazzle the other drivers with the 250 Watts headlight. Some
drivers dim the headlight and some do not do anything at all. It is the
same courtesy as dipping the headlight of a car to another oncoming
vehicle.
> and I find the farther south you go, the nicer the attendants become.
I had a minor argument with a south indian driver friend of mine -
because of his overpowering courtesy all he said was - 'You are a fool -
Sir !'
> There was a loco failure one trip and we only had one diesel pulling >
us > over the hills, with two people running
> along side throwing sand on the tracks -
Who were these two people ? I hope the driver was in the cab !
Wheels slipping on such a heavy load ? A dead loco in the tow must have
been the reason for that. There should have been sand in the sanding
system but most passenger loco drivers do not bother to check or even
insist on sand in the loco - they do not need it - until they get into
such situations. Freight drivers as a rule check sand before they accept
a loco.
Apurva
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: Through trains in Termini
Date: 02 Nov 1998 21:18:49 -0500
> Someone had also mentioned that CR passenger trains follow the 3
didgit
> convention, on the contrary...CR is one railway I know for sure that
has
> all its trains numbered 21** or 1***
What about CR passengers like 327/328 (Pune - Wadi - Pune passenger) and
329/330 (Pune - Wadi - Hyderabad passenger) whose rakes home at Pune ?
But
then most of passenger has a 1XXX format. What I meant was the CR lacks
the
letter before the number seen in the NR and NER timetables (LK24
passenger etc
for LKO - CNB passenger). The exceptions seem to be the Konkan Rail
trains
which have numbers like KR0111/0112 (Mumbai - Madgaon express) and
KR3/4
Dadar - Ratnagiri Passenger. But then this is to differentiate between
KR
trains and other trains. KR as pointed out may be division on its own
but as
the 1 to 9 numbers have already been allotted, has no distinctive number
of
its own, except KRxxxx.
Apurva.
>
>
> Regards,
> Bharat Vohra
From: Anne Ogborn <>
Subject: Re: Homing at Chennai
Date: 02 Nov 1998 21:30:58 -0500
>
> What is a WP4 ? Surely you do not mean the WAP 4 ? Please put up the
jpg of this loco
> for all of us to have a look.The 'grill' is known as the 'Cattle
guard' - used very
> frequently in India !
>
> Apurva
Posted as <A HREF="http://www.netmagic.net/~anniepoo/irfc/wp4.html">http://www.netmagic.net/~anniepoo/irfc/wp4.html</A>
It's the same image I gunged about somebody including (at 113K! - I
compressed to 20K)
in an email and
posting on this list. (It's a nice image, I just didn't want it in the
middle of my
email).
I'd appreciate if somebody would properly identify this loco.
I know it's not a WAP4 - I can tell by the panto 8^)
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: New Zones
Date: 02 Nov 1998 21:34:07 -0500
The new zones make no impact at all. They were political decisions to
make a
region feel important. On a smaller scale we have a number of new
divisions -
Pune division was carved out of Mumbai division. If you look at the
latest CR
TT, Pune division's jurisdiction is not mentioned at all. All that Pune
division does is to run 4 EMU rakes (forming 18 pairs of trains) from
Pune -
Lonavala (some to Talegaon) - Pune, launch the passenger services to
Hyderabdad/ Wadi, Daund, Baramati, Manmad and Nanded. Pune division also
homes the 1077/1078 Jhelum Exp (Pune - Jammu Tawi -Pune), Ahimsa Exp
(Pune -
Ahmedabad - Pune), 1029/1030 Azad Hind Exp (Pune - Howrah -Pune) and the
1031/1032 Gyan Ganga Exp (Pune - Manduahdih (Varanasi) - Pune). Does it
justify forming a new division ? Maybe - it has created more jobs !
Apurva
Vivek Prakash wrote:
> I second that. I liked the 9 zones too - this makes matters just all
> that more complicated. My question is, what sort of impact are these
new
> zones going to have on efficiency? Does this mean that more make up
time
> has to be added for trains transferring to and from these new zones?
> Regards
> Vivek
>
> Madhav Acharya wrote:
> >
> > I thought they were already a reality ? Only the heads of each of
these
> > zones
> > is not a GM but an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) (info courtesy IR
> > website). But
> > the trappings that are part and parcel of a new zone are evident in
> > Bangalore
> > (South Western Railway). I liked the 9 zones too - adding more is
> > equivalent
> > to each person having their own stretch of track !
> >
> > Madhav
> >
From: Anne Ogborn <>
Subject: Re: Homing at Chennai
Date: 02 Nov 1998 21:41:13 -0500
Shankar wrote:
> Hello,
> Talking of typical American terms, somemore spring to mind:
>
> Indian: dining car: U.S.: Diner
> sleeper (car) sleeping car
These are both in US use too, as informal variants of the
more formal "sleeping car" and "dining car"
The coupling between the train lines under cars is called a "glad hand"
in US
parlance.
what is it in INdian?
From: Anne Ogborn <>
Subject: Re: Homing at Chennai
Date: 02 Nov 1998 21:45:34 -0500
Jishnu Mukerji wrote:
>
> Isn't a "conductor" in the US the equivalent of a "guard" in India? It
> is the "conductor" who is overall operational in-charge of the train -
> at least on Amtrak and NJTransit.
>
> Then there are assistant conductors etc.
>
> I think the equivalent of american "car attendant" is the "coach
> attendant" in India - say in sleeper coaches for example.
>
Yes, this is right, I was wrong about the Indian meanings.
In the US, on either a freight or passenger train, the conductor is in
overall charge of the
train.
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: Reply to Poras (+ request for favorite train journeys)
Date: 02 Nov 1998 21:45:36 -0500
> >
> > I once footplated on the Rajdhani WAP loco from Howrah (4pm)
> > to Dhanbad (7
> > pm)- the first halt after 3 hrs. The drivers
>
> That's neat!!! Did it require a formal written permission from the
> authorities?
Usually 'pataoing' the drivers is all that is necessary !
They are nice guys in a boring job, usually they are glad to have an
inquisitive, educated company.
They would be quite suspicious of a written permission which brands you
out as
'Sahib ka aadmi' (Saheb's man) in front of whom they have to watch they
say
and generally put up a good image.
Apurva
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: Homing at Chennai
Date: 02 Nov 1998 22:15:52 -0500
> 177/188 Jhelum Express changed to 4677/4678 and was again changed to
> 1077/1078.
We need to study this factor too - that of 'rake adjustment'. The Jhelum
was a CR
train (177/178) then a NR train (4677/4678) and now back to being a CR
train
(1077/1078). Similarly Goa Express used to be SC train 2701/2702 then a
NR train
4879/4880 and now back to being a SC train 2779/2780. Each zone seems to
have a
quota of running trains and occasionally one train is handed over to the
some other
zone in exchange for another train. This happens annually when the new
time tables
are made. Something to do with revenue generation ?
> 12 Dadar Express became 6511/6512
> 27/28 Varanasi Dadar Exp became 1027/1028
> 1/2 Bombay Howrah Mail changed to 8001/8002 etc.
> The only radical change was with the superfasts: 2xxx.
> One train which beat me hollow was the 9/10 Bombay-Madras Mail.
> This train, one would expect would have either a CR no (1xxx) or a SR
no.
> (6xxx). Horror upon horrors, the train was given an SC no. 7009/7010!
> I believe this has been changed just recently, and the train is a 6
something.
The 7009 Dn (6009 Dn today) rake was the 7032 (Hyderabad - Mumbai rake)
which came
to Mumbai in the afternoon. Once the 7009 Dn reached Chennai it returned
to HYB as
some other South Central Train. At least the 7009 Dn traveled in the SC
territory
from Wadi to Renigunta.There is the classic case of 7339/7340 Dadar -
Nagpur - Dadar
Sewagram Express (1439/1440 today) which did not even touch the South
Central
territory (except briefly at Manmad whose then MG route to Hyderbad was
SCR ?) was
but had a SC number because it shared the rake with SC trains.
'73xx' is the number of all trains homing at Kolhapur.From KOP the rake
went to
Dadar as 7312 Mahalaxmi Exp. From Dadar the rake was the 7339 Sewagram
to Nagpur
then returning to Kolhapur as 7384 Maharashtra Exp. Then the rake
reversed its link
: 7383- 7340 - 7311 to finally reach Kolhapur after spending most of its
time (and
earning mileage) outside the SC territory.
This was a few years back, today of course the link is different.
Apurva
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: Through trains in Termini
Date: 02 Nov 1998 22:26:20 -0500
> then the loco. changes ends and the train continues towards its
destination.
Does the same loco continue - are there small 'escape' lines for the
dead ended
loco to come on to an adjacent track and get free or was there a new
loco ? This
process of trapping an incoming loco can be seen at Mumbai VT where the
rake has
to reversed out of the platform before the loco be free, while Howrah
and
Chennai Central (which have been constructed after the VT) have made the
provision for removal of loco without moving the rake.
> ------- ------
> from Chennai/ ------ \/ ----- to Vizinagaram/Howrah
> Annakapalle \/\/
> | |
> | |
> -----
> Visakhapatnam
Great map - helps a lot to understand the structure of the lines.
> In fact, there is an additional electrified track that accompanies
the
> pair from V'patnam
> till Kottavalasa from where it branches off towards Kirandul. This is
used
> to transport
> Manganese ore (anything else?)
I think one day passenger uses this line.
Apurva
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: Homing at Chennai
Date: 02 Nov 1998 22:32:01 -0500
It is a WG Annie, it was my wallpaper for a number of days as well
Apurva
Anne Ogborn wrote:
> >
> > What is a WP4 ? Surely you do not mean the WAP 4 ? Please put up the
jpg of this loco
> > for all of us to have a look.The 'grill' is known as the 'Cattle
guard' - used very
> > frequently in India !
> >
> > Apurva
>
> Posted as <A HREF="http://www.netmagic.net/~anniepoo/irfc/wp4.html">http://www.netmagic.net/~anniepoo/irfc/wp4.html</A>
>
> It's the same image I gunged about somebody including (at 113K! - I
compressed to 20K)
> in an email and
> posting on this list. (It's a nice image, I just didn't want it in
the middle of my
> email).
>
> I'd appreciate if somebody would properly identify this loco.
> I know it's not a WAP4 - I can tell by the panto 8^)
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: Homing at Chennai
Date: 02 Nov 1998 22:37:57 -0500
> Yes, this is right, I was wrong about the Indian meanings.
> In the US, on either a freight or passenger train, the conductor is in
> overall charge of the
> train.
There are Train conductors on some trains - They are senior ticket
checking
staff who look after the overall facilities of the train. They have an
armband stating that they are the conductor.
Apurva
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: Homing at Chennai
Date: 02 Nov 1998 22:39:25 -0500
> The coupling between the train lines under cars is called a "glad
hand" in US
> parlance.
> what is it in INdian?
Are you refering to the joints between rails ? They are the 'fishplates'
!
Apurva
From: Balasubramanian, Vijay <>
Subject: Re: Through trains in Termini
Date: 03 Nov 1998 07:22:16 -0500
> > then the loco. changes ends and the train continues towards
> its destination.
>
> Does the same loco continue - are there small 'escape' lines
> for the dead ended
> loco to come on to an adjacent track and get free or was
> there a new loco ? This
> process of trapping an incoming loco can be seen at Mumbai VT
> where the rake has
> to reversed out of the platform before the loco be free,
> while Howrah and
> Chennai Central (which have been constructed after the VT)
> have made the
> provision for removal of loco without moving the rake.
The same loco. continues onward b'coz it can reverse onto the adjacent
track
via these 'escape' lines. Even Mumbai Central does not have escape
lines.
I once saw
the Paschim Exp. being reversed out by the very same WDM2 that had
brought
it in.
Vijay
From: Madhav Acharya <>
Subject: Re: Reply to Poras (+ request for favorite train journeys)
Date: 03 Nov 1998 08:13:56 -0500
My dad was GM/ER at the time so it worked both ways - I was allowed
on the loco, but at the same time I was "saheb ka aadmi" :P. The drivers
didn't seem to care though and were more agitated about the 3 min delay
as I mentioned earlier !
Madhav
"Balasubramanian, Vijay" <vbalasubramanian@noblestar.email on 11/03/98
10:17:44 AM
To: Apurva Bahadur <iti@giaspn01.email "Balasubramanian,
Vijay"
<vbalasubramanian@noblestar.email
cc: Madhav Acharya/EastCoast/Mobil-Notes, irfca@cs.email
Subject: RE: Reply to Poras (+ request for favorite train journeys)
> > >
> > > I once footplated on the Rajdhani WAP loco from Howrah (4pm)
> > > to Dhanbad (7
> > > pm)- the first halt after 3 hrs. The drivers
> >
> > That's neat!!! Did it require a formal written permission from the
> > authorities?
>
> Usually 'pataoing' the drivers is all that is necessary !
> They are nice guys in a boring job, usually they are glad to have an
> inquisitive, educated company.
I don't see that as a problem on regular sections, but aren't drivers
for
high-speed trains such as the Raj. more cautious about allowing
footplaters?
What if they get spotted by a higher authority who may not approve of
such
an act?
> They would be quite suspicious of a written permission which
> brands you out as
> 'Sahib ka aadmi' (Saheb's man) in front of whom they have to
> watch they say
> and generally put up a good image.
That didn't appear to be the case during my footplating on the Bhopal
Shatabdi Exp. The driver and asst. driver weren't the least bothered
that
the windshield wipers weren't operational and had to be manually
operated.
The fact that the loco. was traveling at 140 kmph. against torrential
rains
didn't seem to worry them.
Vijay
From: Balasubramanian, Vijay <>
Subject: Re: Homing at Chennai
Date: 03 Nov 1998 08:31:20 -0500
> in the SC territory
> from Wadi to Renigunta.There is the classic case of 7339/7340
> Dadar - Nagpur - Dadar
> Sewagram Express (1439/1440 today) which did not even touch
> the South Central
> territory (except briefly at Manmad whose then MG route to
> Hyderbad was SCR ?) was
> but had a SC number because it shared the rake with SC trains.
> '73xx' is the number of all trains homing at Kolhapur.From
> KOP the rake went to
> Dadar as 7312 Mahalaxmi Exp. From Dadar the rake was the 7339
> Sewagram to Nagpur
> then returning to Kolhapur as 7384 Maharashtra Exp. Then the
> rake reversed its link
> : 7383- 7340 - 7311 to finally reach Kolhapur after spending
> most of its time (and
> earning mileage) outside the SC territory.
> This was a few years back, today of course the link is different.
>
Is three-way rake sharing, such as the one you have described above,
practised a lot on IR?
What is the advantage of doing that as opposed to the more common
two-way
sharing where
two trains share rakes at their common terminus? To extend this
question
further, what are the
pros and cons of rake-sharing? An obvious advantage is when a non-daily
train is so scheduled
that its rake would have to sit idle on one of its terminii for a few
days,
so use that time for another train to complete its entire run. As far
as
daily trains are concerned, this could result in an increase in the
rake-maintenance time at the homing terminus. For example, if we assume
that the 2622 TN exp. becomes the 2615 GT exp. at Chennai Central, then
it
stays about an hour extra at Chennai. Any other advantages? Seems to
me
that this practice has contributed to quite a few trains losing their
distinct liveries because of continuous changes in their rake
formations.
Is this true?
Vijay
From: Shankar <>
Subject: Re: WP livery
Date: 03 Nov 1998 11:42:53 -0500
Hello,
Steam engine liveries depended largely on the railway they belonged to.
At least the tender liveries.
Had I been any older at the time, I might have been able to throw light
on
the livery of the smokebox as well, but most of the tender liveries I
can
remember:
Central Railway: Green and black
Southern: Light grey and red
South Central: Green and red
NE/NF: Black with a blue ribbon
Western,Eastern, SE Black and red
Northern: Red (fully red)
When the engine had been withdrawn from active service and was used for
shunting and yard duties only, the tender used tobe painted fully black(
with
rarely a yellow ribbon running across.)
Coming to smokeboxes, most engines usually had some sort of star painted
on.
NR engines tended to have massive WP type stars painted even on the WGs'
flat smokebox fronts.
ER used to have a silver star on a red background, and CR silver on a
black
background (the most elegant of the lot): All these for the WPs.
SE used to color the WP smokeboxes fully silver with no star or leave it
black, without any trim, which made the otherwise majestic and handsome
WPs very
mundane and drab machines indeed.
I've seen some WPs on the SE with a silver border painted around the
headlight on the smokebox: no star.
Have you noticed, apart from the elegant paintwork, and (sometimes
garish)
motifs painted all over the engines, some WPs, esp. on the CR had a red
wing-like plate fitted on either side of the chimney.
All over the IR, irrespective of tender livery or color of the smokebox,
IR
steam drivers used to fit a gold or copper colored crown on the chimney
of a
few (usually express) engines, making the engine a true princess!
None of this on the diesels or electrics, except that some of them have
very
imaginative liveries.
Best regards.
Shankar
At 01:34 PM 10/26/98 +0530, you wrote:
>>
>> Can you elaborate on the livery of the rake and indeed the loco
colours. I
>> have seen only Black WPs (in pictures) sometimes with a Red nose
(Sonepur
>> shed) and some locos with some green trimmings (like Jhansi shed)
>>
>> Apurva
>
>Western railway WPs used be brown and black.
>
>==========================
>Viraf Mulla
>C-20/14, Jeevan Bima Nagar,
>Borivali (West)
>Mumbai 400103
>Tel: +91-22-8954510
>E-mail: sncf@godrejnet.email
>==========================
>
>
From: Shankar <>
Subject: Re: Best Zone
Date: 03 Nov 1998 11:42:54 -0500
Hello,
Best zone? The SR will win hands down, as others have pointed out.
Somehow,
SR trains are cleaner, better maintained, more punctual. Most SR trains
leave bang on the dot. Staff are more courteous (sometimes
over-enthusiastic, which is a bane for us dedicated photographers!), and
some of the trains actually sparkle. Have you seen the YAM/1s at Egmore?
Most are sparkling, and no one will say they are over twenty years old!
wonder why. Probably because road competition is very severe in teh
South.When I visited Tanjore and Kumbakonam last Nov., I found even
local
passenger trains sparkling clean, and virtually empty.
The SC also is not bad, but SC trains are mostly frightfully slow.
Some regions on the NE , NR and ER are probably the WORST, especially
those
areas passing thorough certain areas in UP and Bihar, although overall
NR is
not all that bad, I'm told.
Best regards.
Shankar
At 05:17 PM 10/30/98 +0530, you wrote:
>Shrinivas,
>
>Only part of your journey was on the Southern Railways. Mumbai Pune was
>Central Railways (Mumbai Division), Pune - Hubli was the friendly (but
not too
>efficient) South Central Railways (Hubli Division) while Hubli -
Bangalore was
>the Southern Rail (Bangalore division).
>
>Apurva
>
>SHRINIVAS V. JOSHI wrote:
>
>> Dear Apurva,
>>
>> Yes, I did experience all the aspects mentioned by you regarding
South
>> Zone been the Best one.
>
>
>
>
>
>