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THE FAULT IN OUR DAYS OF RUN
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Exclusive air-conditioned trains are no longer a fresh idea by any standard. Even if you stay clear of the statistics, (an approach I conveniently yet subtly prefer all the time) it’d be safe to state that it has been decades ever since this particular concept was tried and implemented in various colours and, as I can add as of today, in various shapes. However, planning it perfect enough for them to run into waitlist, the prevalent yardstick to denote a train successful, continues to be...
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a rare sight.
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The southern half of the IR network has some astonishing specimens running that make you raise a couple of questions. Or broadly speaking, just one precise question in each case.
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Chennai Madurai Duronto has the most convenient timings an overnight can possibly sport. Add to that the tremendous rush of people shuttling between the two cities. But how tough was it to imagine that this tremendous rush peaks on Friday from one side and on Sundays from the other? At the point in history where technical halts were being converted into commercial to cure the ailments of this breed of trains, condition of this guy was like that of a cancer patient who’s being injected with insulin just because his doctor has other thoughts as it hasn’t been long since Vyapam.
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Thiruvananthapuram Duronto, on account of being a Friday departure, partially hit it right to begin with. Beautiful return timings did it have, just in time for office hours with the only fault that almost nobody had office to attend on its day of arrival. Tiny mistake was it and just when we thought it was being corrected, SR did what the officials of Election Commission do to your Voter ID card when you request them for a correction. Well, yeah. They make another mistake, elsewhere. They moved its arrival to the day you can directly head to office on but no longer on office timings.
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19419 Chennai - Ahmedabad Express has been a path-breaking idea since Navjeevan in bringing the travel time down while also saving a day for the Gujarat bound passengers. Its slot being free on the weekends and announcement of an Ahmedabad - Chennai Humsafar made people think that this undoubtedly has to be the weekend version of 9420. Cut to today and you’ve another reason to ask the very same question that’s being asked across these stories. Am I the only one with the rationale to think that a Saturday departure could’ve become a Sunday overnight from PUNE to ADI? What more of a win-win can one ask for?
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A full AC train to Rajasthan from Chennai departs when? On a Thursday. Trichy Humsafar was slow by some 5 odd hours just to make it an overnight between Trichy and Bangalore. When? On a Thursday. YPR KCVL Garib Rath which can easily ferry the Friday night rush of Kerala bound techies departs when? On a Thursday. SWR also sends the full AC rake of YPR DEE Duronto to Kochuveli. When? On. A. Thursday. And what doesn’t happen on a Thursday? Well, the Delhi bound Yesvantpur Duronto doesn’t depart on a Thursday which’d have otherwise allowed it to depart on Saturdays from Delhi making it profitable both ways. But that’d probably be too logical by IR standards.
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It’s imperative to understand that after over a century of us Indians being used to the subsided non-AC travel, it’d take some time for exclusively air-conditioned trains to be successful wherever they’re launched. To begin with, it is only logical to deploy them on the right days. These little changes can fix bigger problems and pave way for economic viability for more of such services in near future.