After spending my weekend in my favorite coastal town of Karwar , i reserved the return journey to Mysore in this train. 16523 was late by 15 minutes , so i decided to relax myself doing my favorite hobby of all times. It was really visual treat with the locos. I spotted a Kalyan WDG 4D 70342 at Karwar. That was the first time seeing a dual cabbed piglet in reality. Then came Ernakulam special with the Erode WDM in platform number 2, the train was mostly vacant. Then came 16523 chugging into platform number 1 with the Vatva deemer. The compartments were 2014 made which were clean from outside and shabby to the core in inside. It was full of plastic covers , bottles. The restrooms were stinking like anything. Even the 2AC was in the same condition. Disappointed with the cleanliness i was counting on my journey to...
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excite me in all possible ways , Suddenly Poorna express came to platform no 2 with orange Kalyan WDM 3D and started after a brief halt. At 14:50 , 16524 express started with the Deemer from WR leading from the front. It had a unscheduled halt at Harwada for some ten minutes waiting for RORO powered by GOC WDG4 to cross, Then it was stopping at all scheduled halts and it was running behind the schedule by 25 minutes. At Murudeshwara, it encountered the "Hero of KR" , Mangaluru-Mumbai superfast express, it quickly sped past my train. Then i slept off for a while and woke at Udupi, where the crowd filled 20% of the train. Finally it reached Mangalore at 20:20 , it arrived before the schedule utilizing the huge slack. There ED twins was waiting with the tiny load of Kannur express which was coupled with the Karwar with the same ED twins powering all the way till MYS. The entire train got filled at Mangaluru. It was chugging through the beautiful ghat section of Subrahmanya road. This time one good thing was no cockroach menace like my previous travel where i literally suffered like anything. Finally it reached MYS bang on time, from there UBL EMD took charge to SBC. The ED twins were allocated to Chamundi.
Ratings:
Speed : 4/10 [Lots of slack. No high speed action at all, it has least priority in KR. It was put into loop for freight trains to cross]
Punctuality : 6/10 [It was running with 30 minutes delay till Udupi. It Reached Mangalore and Mysore at proper time , It reached SBC at 08:40 despite reaching KGI at 07:35 ]
Cleanliness : 2/10 [ It does not get cleaned enroute. It will be clean only at SBC when it proceeds for KAWR as 16523. No Cleaning at Mysore, Mangalore and Karwar too. The biolets were spoiled by people despite putting the warning sign and dust bins. The commode was filled with bottles and plastic covers. Railways should better remove biolets in trains]
Coaches : 9/10 [Most of the coaches were 2014, exteriors were very clean]