18th June | The Journey Day /diary/trip/70937
We were still unsure that if the train will come to Bhopal or not . Whom to trust – Press Release or NTES . So at 07:00 hrs I decided to go Bhopal Jn and ask at the enquiry . There was chaos all around station , there was a huge crowd gathered at enquiry . Many pax were waiting at the station since night & still were not able to get the correct information about their trains . Suddenly the display board flashed 11071 Kamayani Exp arrival at 08:30 on Pf 2 . I reconfirmed this info from the enquiry . At that moment it was sure that train will arrive at Bhopal...
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Meanwhile the NTES update was still same “Arrived Bhusaval at 20:22 delayed by 1 hr 12 mins” , by selecting Bhopal or any other station it showed “waiting for update”
I rushed towards my hotel and checkout at 08:15 AM . We reached station at 08:30 and were waiting at the AC Waiting hall at Pf 1 .
Now , the indefinite wait starts . . . . . .
Back to back trains were coming form all three ends(Bina , Itarsi & Ujjain) . This was the day when I had the longest railfanning session though I was not much happy and bit worried too . Spotted infinite trains , took many snaps and videos .
Time was getting passed & I got no information about my train . The delay on the display board was kept on increasing. At 10:00 hrs the display board showed the train will arrive at 14:00 hrs .
At 14:30 hrs , when the display board was still showing arrival time 14:00 hrs , I went to enquiry to ask and the enquiry staff gave a strange reply “ Kamayani gum ho gayi hai “ . Had any enquiry officer said this statement in any station in Bihar he would have been beaten and thrown away by the public . I too had a very heated argument with him but try to stay calm .
At 15:00 hrs we had lunch in food plaza at Pf1 , the food was not bad but I was more worried about my train rather than food taste .
At 18:00 hrs , Diverted 12137 Mumbai Firozpur Punjab Mail arrived on Pf 3 from Ujjain side . Now the question was , Punjab Mail which departed CSTM at 19:40 has arrived BPL at 18:00 hrs via diverted route & Kamayani which departed LTT at 12:40 had still not arrived . Many questions were going in my mind – Has the train being cancelled or it would run via Nishatpura (as per press release) . At this moment I was very frustrated and my family members were worried too . I asked my bhaiya to look for an alternative . So my bhaiya booked tickets in 22911 Shipra Exp from Ujjain to Gaya in 2A , Bhopal timing 04:00 AM in morning next day, booking status was WL1 ,WL 2 . The Chart Prepared within 10 mins at 18:45 and the pnr ended up at RA1 41 & WL 1 . Approx 5000 Rs were wasted for just half a seat for 2 pax . /pnr/post/1516742
19:45
It was already long 12 hrs since I was waiting at this station and frustrated . I came out of the waiting hall to look for the retiring room . Just then when I came near the FOB I saw a train hauled by a WAP 4 is arriving on Pf 3 from Itarsi end and on the board it was written Lokmayatilak – Varanasi , just then an announcement was made 11071 Kamayani Exp has arrived on Pf 3 . I rushed towards the waiting hall to call Papa and take luggage and ran towards PF 3 , the train moved the moment we boarded in . At last we were in train . The train arrived by a delay of 17 hrs . 11071 was shown diverted by the press release & NTES but the co passengers said it was not diverted but was instead stranded long at every station it passed by . They also said that AC was not working and they had suffered very badly .
To be continued . . .
#NiketKaran