It was a bandh day (strike) on 7/12/2009.

I had the booking on the train 2704 do

wn Falaknuma superfast express from Secunderabad to Kharagpur. It was almost 15.
05 in the clock and I was not getting any bus or auto for the station. Then i go
t one autorickshaw which took Rs 50 for a 10 mins journey from my uncles home to
the station where they normally charge Rs 5 on a normal day.
But I had go as my train was suppose to leave at 16.00 hrs from Secunderabad. I
reached station at 15.30 at the main entrance at platform no 1 but my train was
suppose to leave from platform no.10, so i went to that platform by the foot ove
r bridge. The empty rake of the train was entering the platform no.10 but the en
gine was at the back. It was MLY WDM-2 which was doing the shunting process.
My reservation was on the coach S-11 Seat no 56 side upper berth. The locomotive
that took charge of our train was KJM WDP-4 200025.The coach composition of our
train was ENG,SLR,GS,S1,S2,S3,S4,S5,S6,S7,S8,S9,S10,S11,S12,S13,PC,S14,HA1,B1,B
2,A1,GS,GS,SLR.I took my seat and set my luggage and waited the train to leave.
Beside our train, 2714 Satavahana express from Secunderabad to Vijayawada was st
anding on pf. no. 9 with a LGD WAP-7 300265.On pf no 2, empty rake of train 2734
Narayanadri express was standing and the rake of 7016 Secunderabad - Bhubaneshw
ar Vishakha Express was shunted in.
our train left the station at 16.10 which was 10 mins behind schedule.The run wa
s very normal and the speed was not so good, dont know what was the reason. It w
as giving 60kmph on an average. So our train reached its next halt at Nalgonga (
NLDA) at 18.30 which was a delay of almost 45 mins. Then it took a good speed bu
t couldnot make up its lost time and we reached Guntur (GNT) at 21.30 hrs exactl
y 1 hr behind schedule and thus we also reached Vijayawada 1 hr late at 22.30.
At Vijayawada (BZA) wap-4 from AJJ 22617 tookj our charge which was quite unusua
l.Usually wap-4 from LGD (lallaguda) is assigned everyday for the run from BZA T
O VSKP.We left BZA at 22.50 and had a good run all the way. I guess there is a b
uffer time allotted for Falaknuma between Rajahmundry (RJY) and Visakhapatnam (V
SKP).Then also our train couldnot makeup the schedule time and we reach Visakhap
atnam at 04.30 hrs which was 1.10 hrs behind the schedule.
At VSKP,our favourite SRC WAP-4 22500 of SER took the charge of 2704. The train
left VSKP at 04.50 hrs and took a great speed all over the entire journey. The t
rain was giving almost 110-120 kmph run fom VSKP till KUR (kHURDA ROAD) and we r
each KUR at 10.40 that means the train covered almost 50 mins of its delayed sc
hedule. Then finally we reached KGP at 16.00 hrs which was a delay of 30 mins. T
hen i got down from the train to carch the EMU to my place i.e kolaghat which is
61 kms from kgp.
My return journey was much better though i got the seat no 30 which was upper be
rth in S3 0f 2703.I took the EMU train no MH 107 from kolaghat (KLG) at 6.56 hrs
which reached Kharagpur at 8.20 hrs on 19.12.2007. ON the way 2821 + 2883 HWH-B
BS DHAULI EXP cum HWH-PRR RUPASHI BANGLA EXP overtook us near Bhogpur and 2021 H
WH-BARBIL JANSHATABDI EXP overtook us at Shyamchak. At kharagpur I went to the n
ewly built JAN AHAR food out let but nothing much was on the menu, so i thougt t
o take breakfast in 2703 itself.
Tain no.2820 NDLS-BBS ORISSA SAMPARK KRANTI EXP was on pf no.5 and it left at 08
.30 hrs with A GZB WAP-4.2509 SBC-GHY exp with HWH WAP-4 entered pf no 6 at 08.2
5 and left at 08.30 towards HWH. 2871 HWH-TIG ISPAT EXPRESS came on pf no.1 with
TATA WAM-4-6P @ 08.40 and left at 08.42. THen my train 2703 was announced that
it is coming on pf no 3. Now a days most of the trains with 24 coaches arrives o
n pf no.3 only as few of the coaches remain in pf no 1. The train came exactly a
t 09.05 hrs with a HWH WAP-4 22310.It was a surprise that instead of SRC it got
a HWH WAP-4.
The train left at 09.10 and the speed was average till Balasore then it the trai
n ran at almost 120 kmph through out the journey.We passed through JAJPUR KEONJH
AR RD at 90 kmph. We reached CTC at 13.00 hrs. the Orissa SAMPARK KRANTI exP WAS
ALREADY THERE on pf no.4. We were on pf np.3 and 2875 PUI-NDLS NEELACHAL EXP ca
me on pf no 1 with A SRC WAP-4. the empty rake of BBS-PARADEEP EXP was standard
on pf no.2.The orissa sk left CTC at 13.05 and our train also followed it and we
left CTC at 13.10. We reached BBS at 13.40 AND i SUPPOSE the orissa sk reached
just befor us only as some of the passengers of that train were still within it
.
We left BBS at 13.55 and reached KUR at 14.25/14.35 and than agaiin the train ra
n at a good speed almost touching 110 kmph.The train reached Palasa at 17.40 whi
ch was much before its schedule time.it left PSA at 18.00 hrs again it reached V
IZIANAGARAM (VZM) at 20.00 , 5 mins beforetime. The train had a decent speed and
VSKP came at 21.20. There i came to know that Mr Chiranjeevi, the mega star of
telugu films boarded our train. He was on HA1. From VSKP, WAP-4 from LGD took t
he charge of the train.We reached BZA at 03.50 hrs and left at 04.10 hrs with a
WDP-4 from UBL. We reached GNT at 05.00 almost 40 mins late, then NLDA at 07.30
and finally we entered SC at 09.50 hrs, 15 mins behind its scheduled arrival.
This was my journey by 2704/2703 SC-HWH-SC FALAKNUMA S/F EXPRESS. This
train is one of the most prestigious and popular train of this route i.e hwh-bz
a-sc section. The train has 24 coaches of which 14 are second class sleeper 3tie
r, 2 AC Sleeper 3 tier, 1 AC sleeper 2 tier, 1 AC first cum 2 tier sleeper, 3 ge
neral second class unreserved and 2 luggage cum guard cum unreserved vans. This
train covers its entire journey of 1545 kms in 26 hrs approx with 21 stops on bo
th journeys. The train passes through the plains of BENGAL, coasts of Orissa and
Andhra pradesh and finally it climbs the deccan plateau in Andhra pradesh. It c
overs the beautiful chilika lagoon in its journey which is visible from the trai
n in both the directions.
As this scenic lake comes during the day time only. It also covers several large
rivers in all the three states i.e Damodar river near Bagnan,Rupnarayan river n
ear Kolaghat (Both in West Bengal), Subarnarekha near jaleshwar, Mahanadi and it
s distributaries like birupa, brahmani etc in the orissa coast ranging between J
ajpur keonjhar road and Bhubaneshwar,and River Godavari near Rajahmundry, Krishn
a near vijayawada and vishnupuram (twice) in Andhra pradesh.The name of the trai
n was taken from the famous Falaknuma palace in Hyderabad. The word "FALAK" mean
s sky and "NUMA" means MIRROR in dakhini hindi language. So the full name FALAKN
UMA means mirror of the sky.
The train gets changeover of locomotives thrice in its whole journey. First, it
gets a WAP-4 (Ecectric loco of 4000hp)from SRC (SANTRAGACHI) or HWH(HOWRAH) shed
from Howrah to Visakhapatnam. Then at VSKP it gets another loco of same type i.
e WAP-4 from LGD (LALLAGUDA) or ED(ERODE) sheds because the train moves reverse
from Visakhapatnam onwards.This loco takes this train up to Vijayawada and there
a Diesel loco WDP-4 from KJM(KRISHNARAJAPURAM) or UBL(HUBLI) sheds takes its pl
ace to do diesel traction in its onward journey from Guntur onwards. Thus the tr
avel by this train is a pleasent experiance and every one should try the journey
by THE FALAKNUMA SUPERFAST EXPRESS.