Collection of Trip Start Messages

20/12/16 30482 RPM for my 104SR PDY MS passenger. Taking it till Guindy. Coach 94411 GS.
13/02/17 104SR 30319 RPM Coach 13493 GS
14/02/17 104SR 30363 RPM Coach 13443 GS
24/02/17 104SR 30354 coach 13443
28/02/17 104SR 30320 coach 13443
01/03/17 104SR 22902 AJJ coach 00487
02/03/17 104SR 30409 coach 13443
16/03/17 104SR 24586 coach 13443 G7 P4 shell tiger
20/03/17 104SR 22005 Jawahar coach 05472.
03/04/17 104SR 22696 coach 13443
07/04/17 104SR 30359 RPM coach 13443
28/04/17 104SR 22023 AJJ coach 93452
29/05/17 104SR coach 13543 power 30538
05/07/17 104SR coach 94402 power 21261
07/07/17 104SR coach 94402 power 22960 RPM
19/07/17 104SR coach 94402 power 30422
01/08/17 21275 wam4 for 104SR. Coach 07449.
03/08/17 28505 BZA blue G7 in P4 shell for my 104SR today. Melodious horns. Coach 96418.
11/09/17 22042 wam4 for 104SR. Coach 09490.
28/09/17 22027 for 104SR. Coach 07449
18/12/17 104SR power 22962 coach 99406
25/01/18 30364 for 104SR. Coach 99406
21/03/18 104SR 30410 93452
09/04/18 104SR power 25024 coach 99406
11/04/18 104SR power 30341 coach 96420
18/04/18 104SR power 30367 coach 93452
23/05/18 At MMNK after a long break. 104SR coach (my usual) 99406 power 30354 RPM
07/06/18 104SR power 22023 coach 14496
21/06/18 104SR power 30352 coach 10427

20 APR 2017 2673 B3 60 LB FF BE coach 00118 power 22269 ED pf 10 MAS
MAS 2211
AJJ 2313/15
JTJ 1.13/15
SA Home 2.50/54 pf 1 3.0/4
MVPM 3.34
CV 50
JTJ was 1.13/20. Could not have started before PTT.
NTES says JTJ arrival as 1.05. Could be possible. So JTJ was 1.5/20!
ED 3.59/4.4
IGR 24
TUP 4.52/55
IGU 5.30/37
CBF arr 55 dep 6.0
CBE 10 pf 3. Subham.
23 APR 2017 2674 B2 17 LB FF NBE coach 00103 power 22274 ED pf 2 TUP

27 MAY 2017 2056 JanS D3 68 AS RF BE coach 02654 power 11163 IZN
HW 6.18/28
RK 7.15/17
Tapri Jn 57/59
DBD 8.22/24
Coach 02614
MOZ 45
x Mail/40233 BGKT
x Shatabdi/30073
Dep 9.01
MTC 55/57
Guldhar 10.26
GZB 46/48
Sahibabad 11.0
Tilak Bridge 19/20
NDLS pf 10 11.35. Subham.

20 AUG 2017 8 Mail coach 15248 power 30398 RPM
SBC 2153
BWT 2345
MAS 0445

21 DEC 2017 7 Mail S8 57 LB FF NBE coach 14246 power 30448 LGD
22 DEC 2017 56242 YPR SA Pass to HLE. Coach 04448 Power 20043 LHF. WS FF BE EW
YPR 1606
LOGH 22
HEB 33
BAND 44
BLRR 1702
CRLM 08/16 x1014/ 40476
HLE 30
22 DEC 2017 KIK SBC Pass to BNC. Coach 06427 Power 13493 SHF. Door. GS.
HLE 1754
CRLM Home 1806/12 PF 15/25 x7235/14638R
BYPL Cabin 42/47
BYPL 54/56
BNC 1908. Subham.
23 DEC 2017 221 Kaveri S12 68 LB NBE FF coach 06227 power 22696 ED

07 FEB 2018 22601 SNSI Express S7 15 SL FF NBE coach 01382 power 16882R SHF TNP + 16859R LHF TNP
SKPT 55
PU 1404/06
MAR 26
KPN 34
BSM 44
KSM 48
BWT 57 59
Stop and start at BFW 1520
Crossed DD just after BFW
MLO 27/29 precedence over mkm passenger
40 crossed at 41
WFD 44
KJM 52 55
CSDR 16.4 Pass through loop

07 FEB 2018 6508
YPR 2217/20
Gudgeri 5.36
Saunshi 44
Kundgol 52
UBL South 6.8/14 x2726
UBL Home 21/25 PF 1 arr 30
UBL 45
DWR 7.15
LWR 51/55
LD 8.36/38
Gunji 58
BGM 9.32/40 x1021/40400 KJM
Sulebhavi 59 crossed through loop. 11429 LHF with MRJ multi passenger
PCH 27/44 xMRJ multi passenger
Ghatprabha 11.6/9 x 1304
Chikodi Road 24
Raibag 36 x11388 MRJ multi passenger
CNC 48 x6533/ 20022 SHF
KUD 53
Koregaon 1455/1505 x11176 LHF Pune KOP Pass
Satara 17/24

2656 Navajeevan S8 1 LB FF NBE coach 13304 power 30358 RPM PF8 BRC
ANAND 1714
Nadiad 1730/32
MHD 45
NEP 48
KANJ 51
BJD 53
VTA 18.11


14 APR 2018 2007 K1 49 WS FF NBE coach 173884 power 30576 RPM PF11 MAS.
fresh fragrance odour, clean toilets and circulating aisle area - kudos given
the fact that this train has travelled from BZA and no cleaning may have
happened specifically at MAS 👍🏼
14 APR 2018 2658 S9 SU RF NBE coach 04214 power 30545

30 APR 2018 1063 S7 57 LB FF BE coach 05221 power 22031 AJJ pf 9 MS.
01 MAY 2018 1064 A1 43 LB RF BE coach 97052 power 40243 PF1 SXT


30 JUN 2018 6859 B1 49 LB RF/FF BE coach 11127 power 22522 ED 40445 GOC
MBM 2328
TPJ 0515/ PF 3
01 JUL 2018 56712 TPJ Fast Pass GS coach 95417 power 13458 GOC LHF
KRR 1224 PF 3. Lucky enough to get a seat for 4 on a Sunday!
01 JUL 2018 178 Rockfort Exp S6 76 LB RF BE coach 16221 power 30342 RPM PF 1 TPJ.

24 SEP 18 6859 MBM PF4 HA1 CABIN A 1 LB FF BE Coach 00031 Power 22904 ED
MBM 2335
25 SEP 2018 178 Rockfort Exp TPJ PF1 H1 A 4 UB FF NBE Coach 16001 Power 30693 RPM

26 DEC 18 2712 C2 33 MS FF NBE coach 17160 power 22305 BZA. MAS pf 5.
Easily one of the best ever coaches I have travelled. Super duper clean,
2078 SL2 38 MS FF BE coach 02705 power 22595 LGD. PF2 NLR.

31 JAN 2019 6177 H1 B 5 LB FF BE coach 14003 power 30622 RPM DLW. PF4 MS.
02 FEB 2019 56713 PGTN Pass GS WS RF BE EW coach 08426 power 22268 ED. PF 2 TPJ.
02 FEB 2019 6178 Rockfort Exp H1 B Coupe 5 LB RF NBE coach 16004 power 30725 RPM. PF 1 TPJ.

09 FEB 2019 2027 Shatabdi Exp E2 27 AS RF BE coach 16014 power 30541 RPM. PF1 MAS.
09 FEB 2019 56264 Mysuru Passenger S1 3 UB FF BE coach 05221 power 25023 AJJ + 40199 ED TLDIC. PF6 SBC.

18 APR 2019 2657 H1 Coupe D 11 LB RF BE coach 08001 power 30556 RPM. PF4 MAS.
20 APR 2019 2658 B2 15 SL FF NBE coach 13116 power 30434 RPM. PF1 SBC.
24 APR 2019 2657 S12 12 LB FF BE coach 13252 power 30409 RPM. PF4 MAS.
25 APR 2019 6022 Kaveri Express A2 33 LB FF NBE coach 09053 power 30342 RPM. PF5 SBC.

27 APR 2019 22671 Tejas Exp E1 30 AS RF BE coach 182694 power 30714 RPM. PF2 MS.
Times of India
Dinamalar
Water bottle
Bru
Cornflakes set
27 APR 2019 76842 TDPR DEMU GS coach 14534
28 APR 2019 6178 Rockfort Exp B5 52 LB RF BE coach 18112 power 39002. PF1 SRGM.

11 MAY 2019 2007 C6 74 WS RF NBE coach 08153 power 22786 AJJ. PF6 MAS.
11 MAY 2019 2028 C12 41 MS RF BE coach 181509 power 30583 LGD. PF2 KPD.

04 AUG 2019 2243 E1 33 WS FF exch 27 WS RF BE NBE coach 16031 power 30717 RPM HOG . PF1 MAS.

10 AUG 2019 56148 GS coach 12536 power 22713 ED. PF2 CBE.
10 AUG 2019 56149 GS coach 96426 power 22508 ED. PF1A MTP.
11 AUG 2019 06710 GS coach 15779 power 11171 ED LHF. PF1 MDKM.

14 AUG 2019 2674 Cheran Exp S8 17 LB FF BE coach 17234 power 37163 BRC. PF 4 CBE.
18 AUG 2019 2671 S10 45 MB BE RF coach 16269 power 30409 RPM. PF9 MAS.
MAS 20.55
SA 2.25
ED 3.25/30
TUP 4.20
CBF 55
CBE 5.5 PF3. Subham.

23 AUG 2019 2674 S9 17 LB FF BE coach 16332 power 30644 RPM. PF4 CBE.
25 AUG 2019 2673 S11 48 SU FF BE coach 15243 power 22670 ED. PF10 MAS. Shunt 14124 TNP.
MAS 22.10
ED 4.40
TUP 5.10
CBF 55 PF1. Subham.

30 AUG 2019 2674 S8 28 LB RF BE EW coach 17234 power 39000 RPM HOG. PF4 CBE.
CBE 2240
TUP 2325
ED 0010
JTJ 0300
KPD 0420
AJJ 0510
PER 0610. PF1. Subham.

02 SEP 2019 2673 S8 68 LB FF NBE coach 17234 power 30539 RPM HOG. PF10 MAS.
AJJ 2321/24

07 SEP 2019 2677 D10 92 MS RF NBE coach 00624 power 40441 ED. PF1 CBE.
07 SEP 2019 22652 S5 55 SL FF NBE coach 16293 power 14641 ED SHF. PF2 PGT.

11 SEP 2019 56323 GS WS FF BE coach 12545 power 11206 ED LHF. PF1 CBE.
11 SEP 2019 56651 GS MS FF NBE coach 07480 power 22250 ED. PF1 PGT.

13 SEP 2019 2674 S2 76 LB RF BE coach 17241 power 30714 RPM HOG. PF4 CBE.Neat and clean coach 👌🏼
15 SEP 2019 2673 S8 28 LB FF NBE coach 181483 power 37207 RPM. PF9 MAS. Shunt 14124 TNP SHF. Bezel less windows.


20 SEP 2019 6042 S7 56 SU FF NBE coach 13259 power 22716 ED. PF3 CBE.
22 SEP 2019 2673 S11 12 LB FF NBE coach 15243 power 37037 ED. PF4 MAS. Shunt 16859R TNP SHF.

24 SEP 2019 2674 S6 65 LB FF BE coach 17224 power 30554 ED HOG. PF4 CBE.
07 OCT 2019 2673 S3 76 LB RF BE coach 16309 power 30712 HOG. PF10 MAS. Shunt 24532 BIA.

11 OCT 2019 2674 S3 76 LB RF BE coach 16244 power 37202 ED HOG. PF3 CBE.
13 OCT 2019 2673 S3 76 LB NBE FF coach 17236 power 37068 RPM HOG. PF10 MAS. Shunt 32383 LDH.

18 OCT 2019 2625 B4 24 SU FF BE coach 17134 power 30426 RPM HOG. PF3 CBE. 15m LA.
20 OCT 2019 2626 A2 13 LB RF NBE coach 182009 power 30615 RPM. PF5 TPTY.

21 OCT 2019 2244 E1 9 WS RF NBE coach 08876 power 30554 ED. PF4 CBE. CURR.
CBE 15.25 (20m late)
ED 16.45
MAS Home 21.52/55. Awesome run 👍🏼
MAS 22.00 (15m early). PF2. Subham.
28 OCT 2019 2673 S9 17 LB RF NBE coach 181301 power 30597 RPM HOG. PF10 MAS. Shunt 23899 AJJ.
TUP 5.0
CBF 40/45
CBE Avuttar 50/55 PF3 6.0. Subham.
X Uday at Avuttar
X TPTY ICE PF5 while rolling in
MAQ ICE/22219 PF4.

01 NOV 2019 2674 S1 76 LB RF BE coach 181317 power 30578 RPM HOG. PF3 CBE.
03 NOV 2019 2673 S1 76 LB FF NBE coach 17243 power 37211 RPM HOG. PF10 MAS. Shunt 23899 AJJ.
JTJ 0125 RT
SA 0330 30m LA
ED 0440/45 40m LA
TUP 0540 /45 40m LA
CBF 0615 35m LA. PF1. Subham.
This is one of the fastest TUP-CBF I have ever seen. Usual time 40m, today 30m. After seeing TUP dep at 0545, I reset my alarm to 0615 assuming a 0625 arr at CBF. Surprisingly enough, as the alarm went off, train came to a hard halt at the PF. I had to vaarisuruttify and get down.
On the delay:
Based on Girish's message, I Learned that my 73 happily overtook a late running 1 Mail at KPD. He was again a block or two ahead when I checked at ED. Can safely assume that we were looped between JTJ and SA to let 1 Mail ahead.
Subham.

08 NOV 2019 2674 S2 76 LB RF BE coach 17241 power 39057 RPM HOG. PF4 CBE.
10 NOV 2019 2673 S3 76 LB RF BE coach 16325 power 37211 RPM HOG . PF10 MAS. Shunt 14661 TNP SHF.

17 NOV 2019 6615 S3 25 LB RF-FF-RF BE-NBE-BE coach 05291 power 40467 GOC - 40172 GOC. PF2 MQ. Utkrisht rake.

22 NOV 2019 2674 S1 76 LB RF BE coach 17240 power 30749 ED HOG. PF4 CBE.
SA 0315
TUP 0525
IGU 0555
CBF 0605
CBE 0615. PF3. Subham.
01 DEC 2019 2673 S1 76 LB FF NBE coach 17243 power 37009 ED. PF10 MAS. Shunt 16462 ED LHF.

06 DEC 2019 2674 S4 76 LB RF BE coach 17235 power 37151 RPM HOG. PF4 CBE.
TUP 2325
JTJ 0325
KPD 0425
AJJ 0520
PER 0620. PF1. Subham.
08 DEC 2019 2673 S11 1 LB FF BE coach 15230 power 37202 ED HOG. PF10 MAS. Shunt 13223 TNP LHF.
CBF 0535. PF1. Subham.
Fastest ever run.
13 DEC 2019 2674 S1 76 LB RF BE coach 17239 power 37183 ED HOG. PF4 CBE.
TUP 2325
ED 0015
JTJ Home 0230/55 PF 0300/15
KPD 0425
AJJ 0515
PER 0615. PF1. Subham.
15 DEC 2019 2673 S3 76 LB FF NBE coach 17226 power 37068 RPM HOG. PF10 MAS. Shunt 13223 TNP LHF.

20 DEC 2019 2674 S1 76 LB RF BE coach 17240 power 37205 RPM HOG. PF3 CBE.
KPD 0430
PER 0645 PF1. 45m LA. Subham.
25 DEC 2019 6795 H1 1 LB FF BE coach 13001 power 30615 RPM - 14054R GOC LHF. PF7 MS.
27 DEC 2019 6795 S3 73 LB FF NBE coach 192077 power 14932 GOC LHF. PF1 KMU.
28 DEC 2019 2083 C1 46 FF AS BE coach 16151 power 22358 ED. PF1 TPJ. In 14663 GOC SHF.
31 DEC 2019 2672 H1 Cabin A 3 LB FF BE coach 08003 power 22808 AJJ. PF2 CBE. In 22391 ED.
01 JAN 2020 2673 S1 76 LB FF NBE coach 17237 power 37204 ED HOG. PF10 MAS.

10 JAN 2020 2674 S3 76 LB FF NBE coach 16325 power 37210 RPM HOG. PF3 CBE.
19 JAN 2020 2673 S11 9 LB FF BE coach 16333 power 30528 RPM. PF10 MAS.
Coach marked inside as NR163371.

25 JAN 2020 6320 B7 60 LB RF BE coach 188901 power 37207 RPM. PF1 CBE.
CBE 0115
ERN 0430
ETM 0530/37 x30436 RPM/Multi passenger
KTYM 0550
CNGR 0630
25 JAN 2020 6381 S5 9 LB FF BE coach 96387 power 22766 AJJ. PF1 QLN.
25 JAN 2020 2634 S7 56 SU RF BE EW coach 192079 power 39002 RPM. PF1 CAPE.
25 JAN 2020 6791 S4 36 LB FF BE coach 99278 power 13566 GOC LHF. PF3 TEN.
Banker 13563 LHF
26 JAN 2020 6102 S5 65 LB FF NBE coach 01208 power 13449 GOC LHF. PF3 QLN.
Banker 14972 SHF
26 JAN 2020 6615 S3 33 LB RF BE coach 05291 power 22018 ED + 40172 GOC. PF2 TPJ. In 13457 GOC LHF.

30 JAN 2020 2672 S2 12 LB FF NBE coach 06274 power 30693 RPM. PF2 CBE. In 22287.
03 FEB 2020 2657 S7 9 LB FF BE coach 03220 power 37201 RPM. PF5 MAS. In 16671 TNP LHF.
05 FEB 2020 6527 S11 33 LB RF BE coach 17202 power 11121 ED MHF + 11113 ED LHF. PF6 YPR.

08 FEB 2020 22610 D1 96 WS RF BE coach 96614 power 30416 RPM. PF4 CBE.
UTK coach
08 FEB 2020 56613 GS WS EW FF BE coach 11458 power 13330 ERS LHF. PF2 SRR.

14 FEB 2020 2674 S1 76 LB RF BE coach 17240 power 37018 RPM. PF4 CBE.
16 FEB 2020 2673 S11 9 LB RF NBE coach 181321 power 37018 RPM. PF10 MAS. Shunt 32323 KZJ.

20 FEB 2020 2672 H1 Cabin B 8 UB RF NBE coach 08002 power 22558 ED. PF2 CBE. CURR.
23 FEB 2020 2673 S11 9 LB RF NBE coach 17242 power 30749 ED HOG. PF10 MAS. Shunt 23472 AJJ.

28 FEB 2020 2674 S5 73 LB RF NBE coach 15242 power 37310 ED HOG. PF4 CBE.
01 MAR 2020 2673 S11 15 SL FF NBE (was 9 LB FF BE) coach 15230 power 30573 ED. PF10 MAS. 30573 named Cauvery. First P7 allotted to ED.

Various trip notes

4.8.19 CBE Shatabdi for relocation

MAS 7.18
AJJ 8.19
KPD 9.4/6
JTJ 10.7/9
SA 11.35/39

27.4.19 TDPR DEMU
TPJ 15.40
GOC 46/48
TPTN 53/55
SRGM 16.0

24.4.19 Mail
MAS 23.18
AJJ 0.27/29
BWT 3.47/49
SBC 5.20 PF4

20.4.19 Mail
SBC 22.45
BNC 58/23.0
MAS 4.25 PF9

9.2.19 NQ
SBC 0.2
MAD 1.48/2.26
MYS 4.30 PF2

2.2.19 ROCKFORT
TPJ 22.38
MS 4.36 PF6

PGTN FP
TPJ 13.0
TP 13/15
MTNL Home 24/56 PF 57 x30363/PGTN-TPJ FP

31.1.19 ROCKFORT
MS 23.30
MKK 43
MBM 47/48
TBM 0.8/10
TMV 1.36/37 x22031/1064
ALU 3.30/32
KKPM 52/53
LLI 4.6/7
VLDE 13
SRGM 24 PF3

26.12.18 PINAKINI EXP
MAS 14.6
KOK 21
TVT 25
PON 50
GPD Home 15.2 PF 14
AKAT 40
SPE 46/48
NYP 16.11/12
GDR Home 33/44 PF 50/52
VKT 17.13
NLR 35 PF1

JS
NLR 20.10
GDR Outer 33/35 Home 42/55 PF1 58/21.0
SPE 39/41
MAS ?

24.9.18 MAQ EXP
MBM 23.35
PV 59
TBM 0.7/11
LLI 4.43
SRGM 54/55
TPTN 5.0
GOC 5
TPJ 20 PF2 (40172)

25.5.18 TDPR PASS (Lady CLP)
TPJ PF6 15.47
GOC 55/16.13
TPTN 19/21
SRGM 27 PF1

ROCKFORT
TPJ ?
MS 4.50 PF5

30.6.18 MAQ
MBM 23.28
TPJ 5.15/35 PF3 (40445)
TP 46/49
KLT 16/19
KRR ?

PGTN-TPJ FP
KRR 12.24 PF3
KLT 58/13.0
PLI 10/12
TPJ 55 PF2.

2.9.2007 SBC

2725 EXP #20023

SBC 14.50

MWM 15.0

YPR 9

BAW 19

Gol 34

Bhair 39

Dodb 41

Nidv 48

Dobbs 52

Hirh 58

TK 16.10/16

Hegg 21

Gub 38

Nitr 42

Samp 50

Amms 54

Kardi 17.8

Tiptur 16/20

Adi 32/46

ASK 

West NFR

A small vittakorai thottakorai from my school days' Timetable grazing days. I have always been fascinated by the series of stations with the prefix 'New' coming up on the NFR line before Rangiya Jn. I used to think why a special treatment to those places alone?!

This got rekindled after a post in IRFCA forum. Now presenting you a sequence of posts (photos with commentary) with some information on the West Assam/ North Bengal portion of NFR.

Please zoom in as much as you can and see the photo.

Yellow line is Bangladesh border (down of line is Bangladesh). Green line is MG (now BG), lines just next to Bangladesh border are abandoned. Red line is direct BG.

Look at how beautiful the Himalayas are at the top (North). A river coming out of each of its valleys and ultimately joining into Brahmaputra. To our bottom left corner is Katihar Junction. The gateway for people coming from North and West. Trains from Katihar ran straight (pre 1947) after Barsoi Jn ( marked BOE), into Parbatipur in Bangladesh, marked as P. They had a reversal there and proceeded North to Siliguri. Trains from Kolkata used to enter Bangladesh far down South itself and entered Parbatipur from point marked as 2

These are trains meant for Siliguri (and pax to Darjeeling). Trains carrying passengers to Guwahati took a right turn after reversal at Parbatipur, proceeded East and entered through the point marked as 3. They went via Mal Jn. Post independence, the railway rights via East Pakistan got severed and we had to invent a new line without touching them. The line North of Barsoi Jn didn't go all the way till SGUJ then.

So, when planning for the new line, they had to make sure that there were odd number of reversals between KIR and GHY so as to match the one reversal we earlier had at Parbatipur. This was required because MG coaches can be coupled in only one direction. There is now a reversal at Barsoi, if trains had to go from KIR to Aluabari Road and then on new alignment till Siliguri. Post Siliguri, the line joined at Mal Jn from West side, requiring another reversal. So two. It was decided to bring in the new line from Aluabari Road to Siliguri from North side so it will make a third reversal there. Instead of handling three reversals, it was then decided to realign the path at both Barsoi and Mal so that only one reversal is there at SGUJ. Remember we are talking only about MG days (marked in Green in the photo)

Now look at Barsoi post realignment. The middle green line was the newly laid MG line to eliminate reversal. Trains coming from KIR and proceeding North need not reverse. This arrangement was retained in BG as well (red line) with a less pronounced curve, to facilitate higher speed and BG standards. While this line was converted to BG, a new line was laid from Aluabari Road to Siliguri bypassing the troublesome areas like Naxalbari. This new line (red colour) can be seen moving SW of the original line in the overall photo shared at first.

We will now move on to Siliguri area. Please zoom in fully to see more info.

The top left green line is the new MG line post 1947 from Aluabari Road to Siliguri. The bottom red line is the new BG alignment from Aluabari Road. MG line reaches Siliguri first while BG line reaches New Jalpaiguri first, then takes a left turn to go to SGUJ. I haven't marked NG line to DJ here. As you can see NJP is far away from the actual Jalpaiguri marked JPG which is on the line from Parbatipur.

The new BG line follows the old MG alignment for a short distance taking right from NJP, till Raninagar Jalpaiguri, marked RQJ. It then branches off via Jalpaiguri Road JOE to go towards GHY. The original MG alignment (now BG) from SGUJ towards Mal Jn can be seen shooting up North from SGUJ in this photo.

This scenic line goes upstream North, crosses two to three dozen rivers and goes inside deep forests as seen in the first/ overall photo shared earlier. The new BG alignment in red moves much downstream and eliminates the need for two to three dozen bridges. Clearly visible in the overall photo. Please compare section from SGUJ to APDJ via Mal in MG and NJP to APDJ via NCB in BG.

We will now proceed to Mal. The line from West left comes from SGUJ and entered Mal Jn (now named Mal Bazar MLBZ).

The line from Bangladesh comes from South down and enters MLBZ. The line to GHY takes a sharp right top turn out of MLBZ and proceeds to our Right East side. We can clearly observe the circular loop that was constructed to avoid reversal for trains coming from SGUJ and proceeding to GHY. New Mal Jn was constructed in BG and you can see there is now a bypass (red) directly to NMZ bypassing Mal Bazar and avoiding the loop altogether.

We will now move on to Alipur Duar area. If you observe the overall picture shared first, you can see that there is a line coming from Bangladesh (South side) via Cooch Behar to Alipur Duar. This is pre 1947 MG line. The line coming from Mal enters Alipur Duar from North side (green line) in this picture. It proceeds straight to Bangladesh, crossing three stations in this town. Alipur Duar Junction, from where the line to GHY takes a sharp left turn, Alipur Duar Court and finally Alipur Duar station. This was MG, now BG.

Remember the new BG alignment from NJP? It enters APD town from the South side (comes via Cooch Behar, we will see it in detail in the next photo). The alignment in red runs almost parallel to the original MG line from Bangladesh, has a separate station New Alipur Duar (strangely station code NOQ), takes a right turn and joins the original MG alignment towards GHY, proceeding via Samuktala Road SMTA (right side in this photo)

As mentioned above, we will now take a look at Cooch Behar area. Pretty busy, isn't it?

As mentioned earlier, the MG line from Bangladesh comes from South bottom side of this photo, has Cooch Behar station COB and proceeds straight north to Alipur Duar (via Baneswar). The new BG line from NJP comes from top left, has New Cooch Behar station, turns left and goes parallel to MG line, via New Baneswar, to New Alipur Duar.

The new BG line from New Cooch Behar that goes to our bottom right goes to Golakpur Junction. This was needed as that line was cut off from NJP side due to a portion of the old MG line being transferred to Bangladesh. You can see this in the overall photo shared first, as a point where Bangladesh border swallows a portion of an MG line. The straight line alignment from Alipur Duar to Cooch Behar was changed to a sharp curve to allow trains from Alipur Duar to enter New Cooch Behar first and then take a right turn to proceed towards Cooch Behar. To that extent, the small portion of the MG alignment that bypasses NCB is since abandoned.

And finally, we take a look at Guwahati area.

The MG line coming from (SGUJ/APDJ) North in this photo as a Green line, stopped just short of Brahmaputra river bank at Amingaon. The station on the other (South) bank was Pandu. There were no through services and all passengers have to avail steamer service between Amingaon and Pandu. Upon opening of the Saraighat bridge, Amingaon and Pandu were abandoned. Agthori and Kamakhya were constructed as replacement stations in the new alignment.

The line from bottom left coming to KYQ is the new BG line from Bongaigaon, crossing Brahmaputra at Jogikhopa. This can be seen in the overall photo. Since the new BG line branched out before Bongaigaon station BNGN, a new station was built prior to the take off point and named as New Bongaigaon NBQ.

So, this explains the difference between the Olds and News in West Assam 😃

Please go through when you get time and let me know if you have questions!

- Thank you. Ara.

Understanding the major quotas in Railway Reservation

There are numerous quotas available in Railways. I am attempting to explain some of the major operational quotas that affect berth/ seat availability in this post:

General Quota (GN)
Remote Location Quota (RL)
Road Side Location Quota (RS)
Pooled Quota (PQ)

Please note that whatever is explained below is not a sweeping general statement for that quota. Please read the post in full and look out for exception scenarios explained elsewhere in it.

General Quota

As the name explains, this is the General Quota i.e. anyone can book from anywhere to anywhere in the path of the train. Eg. T. No. 22671 Tejas Express from Egmore (MS) to Madurai (MDU) with stops at Tiruchirappalli (TPJ) and Kodaikanal Road (KQN). All six booking combinations possible – MS-TPJ, MS-KQN, MS-MDU, TPJ-KQN, TPJ-MDU, KQN-MDU do not have any specific earmarked quota available for them and will be booked under the omnibus General Quota (GN) only.

If there is no room available for further booking of confirmed tickets, the next booking will go to RAC and if RAC is also exhausted, it will move to a dedicated waitlist sequence, GNWL. Prior to preparation of first chart, which is prepared exactly 4 hours prior to the scheduled departure of the train at the source station, GNWL will be cleared against any openings in PQ (to be explained later), followed by vacancies cropping up due to cancellations in GN quota. However, this is subject to order of priority. Refer example below:

T. No. 12635 Vaigai Express. Assume there are only two waitlisted tickets.
GNWL1 Egmore to Madurai
GNWL2 Egmore to Villupuram

If a person holding an ‘Egmore to Villupuram’ ticket cancels it prior to charting (and assuming that seat is multiplexed with another Villupuram to Madurai confirmed booking, the system will check whether it can offer to the person first in queue. In our example, it is not. So, assuming no further cancellations till charting, GNWL2 will be cleared ahead of GNWL1 with a confirmed berth, since GNWL1 cannot be accommodated in the train. If there is another cancellation of an ‘Egmore to Madurai’ ticket, both GNWL1 and GNWL2 will get a ‘confirmed’ message/ SMS prior to charting itself. They will be allotted the exact seats during charting.

GN usually has the largest number of berth/ seat allocations. More on GN quota will be discussed in PQ.

Remote Location Quota (RL)

RL is typically for long distance trains, which have stations enroute that may supply patrons to fill a significant amount of the available seats. These trains may have lesser end-to-end travelers.

A classic example is T. No. 11021 Dadar (DR) – Tirunelveli (TEN) Express. End-to-end passengers in this train are not a sizeable population. This train starts from Dadar (Mumbai) in the evening, 9.30 PM, reaching Hubballi the next day around noon, reaching Yeshwantpur (Bengaluru) in the late evening and finally reaching Madurai and Tirunelveli the next day before noon. It can be observed that this train offers a convenient overnight connection for Mumbai – Belagavi/ Hubballi, Bengaluru – Madurai/ Tirunelveli combinations. So, to ensure that travelers from Hubballi and Bengaluru are getting their fair share of seats reserved for them, a bunch of seats are clubbed together to form a dedicated quota called Remote Location Quota.

One train can have more than one RL quota. The stations from which these RL quotas operate are called as Road Side locations (RS1, RS2, RS3 and so on). In our example, for T. No. 11021, Hubballi Jn. (UBL) is RS1 and Yeshwantpur (YPR) is RS2. This train has only two RS locations and hence two RL quotas RL UBL and RL YPR. Passengers booking in this train with origin station as Hubballi (RS1 station) to Tumakuru (one station prior to RS2) will be booked against their dedicated quota, RL UBL. Passengers booking in this train with origin station as Yeshwantpur (RS2 station) to Vanchi Maniyachi Jn. (one station prior to destination, Tirunelveli) will be booked against their dedicated quota, RL YPR.

If there is no room available for further booking of confirmed tickets, the next booking will go to RAC and if RAC is also full, then to a dedicated waitlist sequence, RLWL. Each RS location having a dedicated RL quota will have separate charting and RL sequence. For example, assuming all berths are booked in the train, a person booking UBL-TEN will get RLWL1 in RL UBL quota. If the next person is booking YPR-TEN, he will be getting RLWL1 in RL YPR quota (and not RLWL2 as RL YPR has a separate Waitlist sequence).

Prior to preparation of first chart at the RS location charting station, RLWL of that location will be cleared against any openings in PQ (to be explained later), followed by vacancies cropping up due to cancellations in that RS location’s RL quota. However, this is subject to order of priority as explained in GN paragraph.

Road Side Location Quota (RS)

The main objective of this quota seems to be protecting the seats of genuine end-to-end passengers, in a long distance train that also has patronage from its RS location stations. RS quota is the complementing quota of a respective RL quota for a station. In our example of T. No. 11021 above, if there are say 500 berths in a train, 300 of them in GN (DR to TEN) and 100 each in RL UBL and RL YPR quotas, to protect travelers with origin as Dadar and destination beyond Hubballi and upto Yeshwantpur, encroaching into those 300 berths meant for long distance travelers i.e. Madurai or Tirunelveli, bookings from Source to a particular RS location (having a dedicated RL quota) are restricted to the number of berths earmarked for that RL quota. In our example, the number of berths available for Dadar to Yeshwantpur will be 100 only. This will be called as RS YPR quota, acting as a mirror of its corresponding RL YPR quota of 100 berths. Extending the logic, the number of berths available for Dadar to Hubballi will be 200 as the berths available for RS YPR quota (100) will also be made available for booking along with RS UBL (100).

If there is no room available for further booking of confirmed tickets, the next booking will go to a dedicated waitlist sequence, RSWL. Prior to preparation of first chart, RSWL will be cleared against any vacancies cropping up due to cancellations in RS quota. However, this is subject to order of priority. Similar to RL, RS can also encroach on PQ berths prior to charting, if RS is not available and PQ is available.

Pooled Quota (PQ)

The most debated quota of the four operational quotas, PQ is aimed at restricting short distance travelers encroaching on berths available for end-to-end travelers, which may otherwise result in revenue loss. Assume all seats in Vaigai Express are in GN quota. If all the seats are booked by travelers from Egmore to Chengalpattu, the train will run empty from CGL to MDU, resulting in revenue loss.

In trains where PQ is available, GN quota is earmarked for long distance travelers by having First Nodal Point (FNP) and Last Nodal Point (LNP) defined. GN quota is available only for a person who is travelling from a station that is ‘Source to FNP, both inclusive’ and to a station that is ‘LNP to destination, both inclusive’. Any source-destination (S-D) combination that does not have a dedicated GN or RL or RS quota will fall under PQ, if it is defined for that train.

In our example, T. No. 11021, the FNP is Lonavala (LNL) and the LNP is Dindigul (DG). Let us look at the various quotas available for S-D combinations in this train. Note that some stations in the path of the train given below are combined to make more meaningful.

Dadar (Origin)
Lonavala (FNP)
Pune
Satara to Dharwar
Hubballi (RS1)
Haveri to Tumakuru
Yeshwantpur (RS2)
Banaswadi to Karur
Dindigul (LNP)
Madurai to Vanchi Maniyachi
Tirunelveli (Destination)

Quotas – Berths (Actual data):
GN – 87
RL UBL and RS UBL – 20
RL YPR and RS YPR – 75
PQ - 100

Source: Dadar to Lonavala
Destination:
Pune to Hubballi – RS UBL 20 + RS YPR 75 + PQ 100 = 195
Haveri to Yeshwantpur – RS YPR 75 + PQ 100 = 175
Banaswadi to Karur – PQ 100
Dindigul to Tirunelveli – GN 87 + PQ 100 = 187

Source: Pune to Dharwar
Destination:
Satara to Hubballi – RS RS UBL 20 + RS YPR 75 + PQ 100 = 195
Haveri to Yeshwantpur – RS YPR 75 + PQ 100 = 175
Banaswadi to Tirunelveli – PQ 100

Note that destination from DG to TEN, unlike the earlier case, does not fall under GN quota because the source station is after FNP. Hence only residual quota of PQ will be applicable.

Source: Hubballi to Tumakuru
Destination:
Haveri to Tirunelveli – RL UBL 20 + PQ 100 = 120

Source: Yeswantpur to Vanchi Maniyachi
Destination: Banaswadi to Tirunelveli – RL YPR 75 + PQ 100 = 175

If there is no room available for further booking of confirmed tickets, the next booking will go to a dedicated waitlist sequence, PQWL.

Prior to preparation of first chart, which is prepared exactly 4 hours prior to the scheduled departure of the train at the source station, PQWL will be cleared against any vacancies cropping up due to cancellations in PQ quota. One can easily infer that the waitlist sequence for PQ will be the most interesting of them all. Let us see that with an example:

Assuming our train (T. No. 11021) is fully booked. A person who books 6 tickets for Dadar to Karur will be allotted PQWL1 to PQWL6. If a person books Bansaswadi to Salem next, he will get PQWL7. The sequence number will be misleading in these cases as there are multiple combinations that contribute to PQ. This will be more amplified in a fairly long distance train with no RL quota like Pandian Express or Nellai Express.

Note that there is no concept of RAC in RS and PQ quotas.

Charting:

Having seen what happens until charting, let us take a look at how vacancies are allotted during charting:

Vacancies from GN quota are cleared against GNWL first, followed by Tatkal (TQWL), RSWL and then PQWL.
Vacancies from RL are cleared against RLWL
Vacancies from PQ are cleared against PQWL, then GNWL.

First chart is prepared exactly 4 hours prior to the scheduled departure of a train at a charting location. Vacancies are cleared in the order mentioned above and surplus vacancies are offered to current reservation at 10% discount. Second chart is prepared exactly 30 minutes prior to the scheduled departure of a train at a charting location. This chart is handed over to TTR and no more online booking will be allowed for that charting location. Surplus vacancies are passed on to the next RS location to clear its RLWL.

Other quotas:
I have not discussed other quotas like Tatkal (TQ), Premium Tatkal (PT), Lower Berth (SS), Ladies (LD) and all other internal quotas like HO, HQ etc. as they do not pose any interesting insights from a common traveler perspective when it comes to analyzing complicated dynamics in how they work.