****A 30 MINUTE EARLY ARRIVAL THAT WASN'T****
Usual 10 minute delayed departure at SBC and by the time BYPL was crossed, the delay was 15 mins and what was witnessed after that was the fury of "sleep killer"(not for me though as I rarely sleep if I take mail) led by ugly white stallion RPM P7-30341. KJM was thrashed at MPS(very very few trains skip KJM at MPS) and Bangarapet was bid goodbye 10 mins late. Checked NTES to see if Kerala, Palani-MAS were running on time and to my surprise both were running late and were scheduled to arrive after Mail at JTJ. More surprising was to see Yercaud running more than an hr late. 3 trains which Mail follows...
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after JTJ running late brought the smiles as I was pretty sure Mail would leave JTJ ahead of all of them. Kuppam was skipped at slow speed as mainline was occupied by freight. Arrived JTJ 5 mins BT and departed OT. Throttle was increased to 105+ and set to cruise control from JTJ outer till KPD outer and after several months, a 15 minute EARLY arrival at KPD was witnessed. KPD saw 2 more early arrivals at the same time(HWH-YPR arrived 20 mins BT and CMNR-TPTY arrived 1 HOUR BEFORE TIME(This train escaped several overtakes today due to late running of 3 trains). Rapti Sagar crossed at KPD with a P7 and after several months JTJ, KPD and AJJ all 3 saw BT arrival and OT departure. At AJJ, I had kept the headline ready for the report thinking of a sure shot 30 minute early arrival at MAS as only CSTM Mail was ahead and that too by a long distance. But then it turned out to be an anti-climax as numerous TSRs and line blocks ensured terribly slow running and diversion to suburban line. First time saw an exp arriving at PF 3 at PER as it was all suburban line from TRL till BBQ. Waited for PNBE-ERS to cross at Jeeva as a result and Palani-MAs caught up with us to ensure a parallel arrival at MAS at 4.30(a whooping 90 minutes for a distance of around 70kms). First time seeing parallel arrival of trains in the AJJ-MAS line as Palani-Mas arrived with a RPM P4. Line blocks playing spoilsport in the last lap was least expected. Got to give credit to SR controllers for not letting Mail wait at JTJ for Palani-Mas to depart first as it was right behind Mail at JTJ.
P.S Avoid boarding SL coaches in SBC-MAS night trains with unreserved ticket as SWR/SR TTEs are very strict these days not allowing even ladies to board the coaches.
Thanks for reading.