MSB/Chennai Beach (10 PFs)

Local Name: Madras Beach

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சென்னை கடற்கரை

Track: Construction - Electric-Line Quadrupling

My travel from Egmore to Secunderabad by Charminar Express in 3A class on 21st April 2022, & railfanning sessions at Egmore, Secunderabad & en-route.

Part 2 for today: Travel by Charminar Express.

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Part 1 RF at Egmore, pls refer below link
/blog/post/5318311

(Before I start, pardon me for some blurred images).

After having cleared my final year exams, I decided to give my Hyderabad home a visit before my internship starts.
Although I had travelled multiple times in EMU post-COVID, this was my first post-COVID reserved train travel & that too the train which I frequently used to take in my childhood, & eventually became a part of my heart ❤.
The train came with an unexpected offlink of BRC WAP-7 (my first spotting of BRC locos ever!) at PF 6 of Egmore & was running almost fully packed from there itself.
Although the train departed from Chennai Egmore on time, it had reached Secunderabad an hour late. This delay was no worry in front of the horrible maintenance of toilets (especially western) in B2 - B3 coach, where some amount of faecal matter was found on the floor & the paan spit on washbasins not flushed due to paucity of water. However things became better post Vijayawada after the water started coming in washbasins & toilets.
But at the same time, not to forget the plus points about my journey, which were comfortable travel, good cooling & the frequent patrolling by railway cops to ensure our safety. Patrolling was done to such an extent where one of my co-passengers was suspected & warned not to keep awake (Actually he was awake playing games on his mobile)!!
Coming to my dinner, it was a simple curd rice which was ordered from the nearby Sangeetha hotel at Egmore (5/5 rating).
Keeping aside the certain disadvantages, the journey was awesome with lots of memories, capturing various pictures. Finally we reached Secunderabad safely. The train arrived Secunderabad at PF 6.

Here are some pics:

Pic 1: My PNR status as of 18th April 2022 on 17th April booking. Was initially set to travel along with my dad & finally tickets were CNFed at B2-47 side lower (my dad) & B2-48 side upper (myself). Then later, my mom too decided to join & her tickets were CNFed at B3-52 lower berth in a separate PNR.

SR territory:

Pics 2 to 4: Charminar Express train boards of SL & 3A at Egmore.

Pic 5: SB of Chennai Park Station (with Municipal Corporation building in background).

Pic 6: SB of Chennai Fort Station.

Pics 7 to 9: Images of Madras high court.

Pic 10: Humsafar liveried EOG of Karnataka Express / MAS - SBC Mail at Chennai Beach Outer.

Pic 11: E.I Hut Chennai Beach

Pic 12: SB of Washermanpet Station.

SCR territory:

Pics 13 to 15: Wangapalli Station SB.

Pics 16 & 17: Yadadri Station SB.

Pic 18: Bhongir Station SB.

Pics 19 to 22: Images of Bhongir hillock fort.

Pics 23 to 28: Bibinagar Station SB.

Pics 29 to 35: Loco Pic & Train board pics of GS & Luggage coaches at Secunderabad.


Pic details:

Source - My own
Dates of capture - 21st & 22nd April 2022
Device - Samsung J7 NXT.

For part 3, pls check 1st 10 replies of /blog/post/5363089

Need immediate justice for this train 😔😔😔Pathetic maintenance of deputy king of SWR with its RSA 12657/58 Bangalore Mail. It was maintained properly in ICF era but after getting LHB the maintenance was become below average. SWR gave only spare, 2 nd class quality LHB stock (provided old rakes of earlier LHB fied trains) and SWR not able to provide uniform rake (the 7th pic was of SCR rake but probably hidden by someone's head) One of AC coaches having Graffiti (see 4th pic)which will even add more shame on legacy and dignity on both trains. Why nowadays SWR doing like SER(as when Coromandel express given LHB, many old spare coaches were used rather than new stock). Why SR not doing anything for this rake of Bangalore mail (secondary maintenance) and not doing that properly but instead parking at Chennai Beach station for the sake of occupancy of BBQ yard?...
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Both SWR, SR and NR did injustice for these both legendary trains . Look at maintenance of Tamilnadu/Grand Trunk/Telangana express trains. They are maintained like Rajdhani and given higher priority. Never thought of degradation of train quality when upgradation of any train. RAILWAYS PLEASE SEPARATE RSA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND RETAIN LEGACY OF SOUTH BOUND TRAIN 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏