ERN-MAS &back.... planned and executed within 2 hrs!!!!

The Kochhi trip is growing on for adventures!! Apart from a late evening visit to Cherai beach and Munnar, many of us were interested to go to MAS (Chennai). It was just a wish and we were not sure whether it will materialize or not. The toughest part was to get two days continuous leave.

So it happened at 1715 hrs on 30th sep in Kochhi refinery that we somehow managed to ask our senior for leave on 1st oct. As 2nd was already a national holiday means we will get our 2 days leave. Our senior who happens to be a very very nice and co-operating gentleman gave us leave on 1st. And at 1730 hrs we finalized our plans (4 of us) that we will be going to Chennai tonight!!! No reservations nothing but still we decided. We knew that we had trains departing from Ernakulam Town (ERN) at 1915 hrs and 2145 hrs. 1915 hrs train was 2624 TVC-MAS sf mail. And 2145 train was TVC-MAS SF Exp. 2624 looked out of question but we thought of giving it a chance. At 1800 hrs we reached back to hotel. We then made necessary calls to inform concerned people about our flash trip!! All were surprised.

1830 we left our hotel (in Tripunithura) for ERN. 1910 hrs we reached ERN thanks to the gladiatoric driving of our auto driver. He managed his way through the evening Kochhi traffic somehow. I asked the Enquiry and got the response that our 1915 train is announced. One of us lined himself for the Unreserved tickets. At 1918 train entered the pf 1 and at 1920 we managed to buy our tickets. We first ran to GS coaches but they were damn full. Then we made our way to SL coaches and found a TTE in pf. We told him that due to shortage of time we were not able to get tickets. He asked for the penalty charges and we readily gave him that. He asked us to be in S5. 30 min into the run and he allotted us berth nos 73, 74, 75, 76 of S5!!!

We simply couldn’t believe what has happened!! Such berths we don’t get even if we book 1 month in advance!!! The berth availability made the run even more enjoyable. The train was SMBed (at least S4 and S5) and had a CBC rake. This was the first time I was sitting in a CBC rake and it gave real bad jerks!!! Whenever the train started or stopped it felt like I was in a freight train!!!

We had our dinner from the pantry and at 2045 hrs we reached Thrissur. We were taken in pf 2 for 5 min. At 2210 hrs we reached Palakkad. We were in pf 3 and I can easily say that it is one of the cleanest stations I have seen. Meanwhile 6344 bound for ERN came to adjacent pf. It reversed there.(?).

The run was full of curves. There are indeed a lot of curves in this stretch!!! I slept for sometimes and woke up when train was in Erode at 0053 hrs. Salem was the next stoppage and one of my friends had to get down there so I decided not to sleep. The run till salem was nonstop and fast. We started Salem at 0146!!!! Before Salem I saw a paper factory and a temple above the hill ata a distance. The light coming from there made a very good scene.

After Salem I retired to sleep and wake up only when we were crossing through Arakkonam at 0525. At 0625 AJJ WAM4 led partial Tata Indicom Shatabdi crossed us. At 0635 saw a WR marked MRVC Rake!!!!

We entered into MAS right time!! This train is really punctual….

I noticed this again when we were to return from MAS to ERN by the same train. We had WL128-130!!! Miraculously indeed it got confirmed which resulted in me having a side lower berth!!! Again the departure frm MAS at dot 2000 hrs and reached Tripunithura (after ERN) at 0705!!!!!

Except for CBC couplings, this train is fantastic… I don’t lame SMBs coz probably it was because of them only that we got berths!!!!

First time I saw a Terminus station in the form of Chennai Central…. Liked the look of it… It was a different experience to see ED WAP4 resting at a dead end!!! I mean it was a really different feeling. I don’t how many of you would support this weird thought but still…….

Thanks a lot for reading….