Part 2 Pune - CST
Train 12124 Deccan Queen
So, after deboarding from 22846 Hatia - Pune SF 30 min late at 0315 hrs at PUNE, now it was second part to begin on the famous Deccan Queen. After getting down on PF3, as per the request of an IRI member looked at the coaches of 22846 and concluded that all SL coaches were new of SER except S1 which was of NR. After having a look now it was time for knowing the scheduled PF of 12124. No announcement, nothing on...
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display boards, it was best to ask to most reliable person, the coolies and vendors for PF of any train, eventhough IRI states it but they are more reliable. So I asked a vendor about 12124 and he replied PF 5. So went on to PF 5 to wait for the train. The PF at 0330 hrs was totally empty and somewhat I felt scared too. The Mumbai - chennai mail chugged into PF6 and many people got down. The GEN class became almost empty. One can easily find a place in GEN if he starts from Pune. After MAS mail departed, came the CSTM passenger on PF6. And simultaneously HTE- PUNE was being shunted to yard from PF 3. After about 30 minutes PUNE - SC shatabdi with upgraded swarna rake got shunted on PF5. The coaches and windows were very clean. As the passengers boarded shatabdi PF4 received Sinhagad exp to Mumbai. By the time of departure Shatabdi was almost 70-80 % filled, Anubhuti coach was pretty much empty with 10-15 pax, but CC had good patronage. On PF4 also people started occupying their seats in Sinhagad exp. The long hoot meant now it was time for departure and Shatabdi exp slowly rolled out of Pune towards Hyderabad. In a couple of minutes Sinhagad exp also started for Mumbai. At around 0620 Deccan Queen waa shunted on PF5. Some coaches were open and some were locked. The open coaches saw passengers rushing towards them. Since my D3 was locked, I along with some others waited outside. After 10-15 mins all coaches were obtained. After boarding placed the luggage below the seat and sat comfortably. Before DQ could depart, came 2 trains on PF3 and 4, HWH-PUNE Azad hind exp and Sahyadri Exp. DQ departed bang on time and gained speed with crossing pune suburbs at good speed. After passing Shivaji nagar, TTE came to check tickets and asked those passengers with GEN/MST to vacate the seats for reserved pax. TTE was pretty srrict regarding that and ensured every reserved passenger got his seat. Since my coach was D3, just near to Dining car, the smell of food would reach the nostrils before the food. The attendant took order of breakfast. And in next few mins they were giving away the breakfast to those who ordered. I had heard about great food of DQ and wanted try in Dining car but could not go due to luggage. No worries, the attendant ensured that if someone cannot come to Dining car, food can come to him. So they came with breakfast crate. I bought a veg breakfast costing Rs 30, which waa in an envelope. In the envelope there was a plate on which there were 2 cutlets, 2 bread and ketchup. I opened it and started eating. And I can say that the cutlets tasted yummy and there was good amount of butter on bread. By the time I finished train halted at Lonavla. And slowly meandering through Bhor ghats it entered the urban jungle Mumbai. The train skipped Kalyan and moved on. The train finally stopped at Dadar and train became 80% empty. Now it was time to enter CST. This was the first time I was entering CST via mainline. In the meantime Locals crossed and overtook our train. From Masjid the train speed came to super low and train crawled into CST. With rolling my luggage moved towards exit. There were lot of TTEs present and demanded tickets from everyone and verified. After verifying the tickets I moved on to the 3rd floor dormitory ( booked for 96 hrs) and had a good sleep of 4 hrs before venturing out.