ROAD TO YDM LAND: CIRCULAR JOURNEY TICKET

April 2013

Once in a life time opportunity was missed due to controllers at my work place. A visit to NFR with my friends was missed and I was planning for such a long trip from then. It never worked out until this year.

March 2014

Santhosh came up with a circular plan to Kolkata and Delhi, I decided to join him. Few people in Bangalore were informed and Rohit was the only one who agreed. The dates for the trip were decided to be during June/July. After few days Rohit suggested me to alter the plans so that few MG sections can be covered as well. The immediate zone that came into my find was NFR. It was soon dropped due to difference of opinion. The next options were WR, NWR and NER. It was getting difficult to get any of these MG sections into Kolkata trip so I decided to make a new plan to cover all the 3 zones. Looking at the trains, I decided that going via Western railway would be the best choice. So the final plan turned out to be like this

       Bangalore – Ahmedabad ( BG )

            Ahmedabad – Mehasana - Ahmedabad( MG)

            Ahmedabad – Udaipur ( MG )

            Udaipur – Jaipur ( BG )

            Jaipur – Sikar – Jaipur ( MG ) 

            Jaipur – Delhi ( BG ) 

                    Delhi – Bareilly ( BG )  

      Bareilly – Lucknow ( MG )  

            Lucknow – Jhansi ( BG)

            Jhansi – Chennai ( BG ) 

                    Chennai – Bangalore ( BG )

I spoke with Santhosh and Rohit about this and they agreed to it. Nihkil Kumar also agreed to join us on seeing the MG sections. Since this was the first time for 2 of us and the hectic schedule added to it, we decided to book in AC. Nihkil who is not comfortable with AC decided to go with Sleeper. The sum of individual tickets seemed bit high and we were thinking about some alternatives. Since the route appeared circular, we decided go for the circular tickets which would atleast save us 2000. We went to Bangalore station to get some details about the rules of circular tickets. The lady in charge on that day confirmed that this is eligible for circular tickets and the ticket will be issued only a day before the 60 day ARP (Advance reservation period) opens. It was decided to start the trip in the last of week of June to avoid the extreme summer in India. Going through the rules online from official site confirmed that we can book in 3AC and then 2AC/FC in MG trains by paying excessive fare. This was confirmed by our good friend from Chennai, The Foodie Express ‘AG’ (Ashwin Gandhi). The day of booking neared and we decided to have a word at Bangalore to know the exact rate for our tickets. We 3 went for 3AC while Nikhil settled for sleeper circular ticket. When I started explaining about the change of higher class for MG, a big NO came back. I was then advised to meet supervisor to get the confirmation, i got the same response. I explained them that the rule has changed and tickets can be booked. I requested them to check the rule again and the supervisor increased his voice in front of the everyone that I was an idiot who knows nothing and to stop arguing with him who is working there from 15 years and knows everything. I replied back with the same tone that I will prove that he was wrong in this case. I called AG and asked him to send me a photocopy of his ticket where he had paid the difference of fare to travel in higher category of train. AG sent me that and then I decided to meet the chief supervisor instead of the supervisor. The chief supervisor was a lady that day. 

Me : Mam, I need to book a circular ticket for the following routes

Supervisor : Please go to ground floor for this

Me : I came here to have a confirmation about my doubt

Supervisor : Yes, tell me

Me : I am planning to take 3AC circular ticket but I will be needing higher class ticket in 2 trains.

Supervisor : A big no, it’s not possible. Why don’t you book in sleeper class for those 2 trains?

Me : I am not interested in that. I am asking you this since the rule form the official site clearly stated that this is possible.

Supervisor : Give the train numbers for that section, let me have a look.

I give them the numbers and the system is not showing anything to proceed further.

Supervisor : Didn’t I tell you that it’s not possible.

Me : ( I immediately take out the copy given by AG – photocopy of original ticket along with Excessive fare ticket ) Look here mam, this is possible and here is a proof.

She looks at it for few minutes…

Supervisor : Wait for few minutes, I will come back.

She goes inside and has a look at the rules. She also speaks with few people and comes out.

Supervisor : Yes, this is possible.

Me : Thank you mam and we will come on the day of booking for this.

We then leave the place.

The quotas for the trains decided does not look good and we decided to do Bangalore Ahmedabad via Mumbai. Few days later Rohit and Santhosh go for booking the circular ticket as I was busy that day at my work place. A new trouble starts, the lady in charge for that day is not agreeing for the circular ticket and asking us to reduce the locations as only 8 breaks can be provided. Rohit calls me and explains the situation. The only option left for us is to take a direct train from Lucknow to Bangalore. An hour of tension and the final plan selected was 

·         11014 Coimbatore – Lokmanya Tilak Express from Bangalore to Mumbai. ( 3AC – Day 1 )

·         12901 Gujarat Mail from Mumbai to Ahmedabad ( 3AC – Day 2)

·         19944 Ahmedabad Udaipur MG Express from Ahmedabad to Udaipur ( 2AC – Day 3)

·         19666 Udaipur Khajuraho Express from Udaipur to Jaipur ( 3AC – Day 4 )

·         19105 Ahmedabad Haridwar Mail from Jaipur to Delhi ( 3AC – Day 5 )

·         14258 Kashi Vishwanath Express from Delhi to Barielly ( 3AC – Day 6 )

·         15307 Nainital MG Express from Barielly to Lucknow ( FC – Day 6 )

·         12540 Lucknow Yesvantpur Express from Lucknow to Bangalore ( 3AC – Day 7 )

All the tickets were booked on the respective opening day of these trains. We were just waiting for the days to run by to start this exciting trip. In the meantime, we gathered ideas from the railfans of these locations. Everyone dropped in their ideas and it will be very helpful during the trip. We decided to book retiring room for 12 hours at 3 locations Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Lucknow. To our luck, we were able to book only at Ahmedabad and Lucknow as Jaipur option was not available during booking. Ahmedabad one was for 24 hours as 12 hours was not available.

20^th June 2014

With just 8 days to start our trip, we got a shocking news that Ahmedabad Udaipur train has been cancelled from 30^th June (The day on which we had booked to travel). It is partially cancelled between Himatnagar and Udaipur due to Monsoon. The passenger train was not cancelled and we decided to take that but later dropped it as it was full unreserved train. Now the only option available was to take a bus. I was against night travel in bus as sleep will be a problem for me. The 24hrs booking for retiring room at Ahmedabad came as a blessing and the plan changed, Stay at Ahmedabad during night and take a bus in the morning to Udaipur.

25^th June 2014

I still had hopes that we will cover that route and somehow the person above will help us. I was checking daily from 21^st to check if the train is made to run on 30^th. As usual I opened the reservation page on the official site and checked for the availability. I was surprised to find reservation available for the Fast passenger which was not there few days back. A quick call to others and we decided to book it. The ticket was successfully booked by evening. 

27^th June 2014 

Just 24 hours left for the trip as I write this. Feeling very excited as I will get to see cute YDM4’s in different uniforms for the first time. Thanks to all the railfans who helped us with their valuable information for this trip. 

 11014 Coimbatore – Lokmanya Tilak Express from Bangalore to Mumbai. ( 3AC – 28th June )

·         12901 Gujarat Mail from Mumbai to Ahmedabad ( 3AC – 29th June)

·         52928 Ahmedabad Udaipur MG Passenger from Ahmedabad to Udaipur ( SL – 1 July)

·         19666 Udaipur Khajuraho Express from Udaipur to Jaipur ( 3AC – 1st July )

·         19105 Ahmedabad Haridwar Mail from Jaipur to Delhi ( 3AC – 2nd July )

·         14258 Kashi Vishwanath Express from Delhi to Barielly ( 3AC – 3rd July )

·         15307 Nainital MG Express from Barielly to Lucknow ( FC – 3rd July )

·         12540 Lucknow Yesvantpur Express from Lucknow to Bangalore ( 3AC – 4th July )

To be continued…….