[Pyrotek]

To be perfectly frank, the quality of our railways is sub optimal on all fronts. Yes, improvements are happening but not enough to attract people like me to give up air travel. Like with airports and airlines, we need trains to be privatized. The private sector will do a far better job than any PSU when it comes to high quality affordable travel. Not to mention we will see a massive improvement in the quality of trains themselves. The ICF has a monopoly and its capabilities are insufficient to keep pace with the country's aspirations to be a developed nation.

[subramak]

Originally Posted by SR-71

Not sure what you mean by the original rake supplied from Germany.

LHB Coach contract included delivery of rakes for Mumbai Rajdhani and a set of CC and EC coaches used in LKO Shatabdi(Vajpayee was the PM and he was also the MP of lucknow) . The LKO Shatabdi was transferred to SR when MAS MYS has moved from ICF to LHB. The life of railway coaches is 25 years, so they are still being used.

Best, Subramanian

Originally Posted by vigsom

It was approx. 6:30am when I got up, and found that the train was running approx. 15 minutes late.

The upper berth can be folded up to make the cabin feel more airy. Unless you are eight feet tall your head wont hit the upper berth when seated

[SR-71]

Originally Posted by subramak

The LKO Shatabdi was transferred to SR when MAS MYS has moved from ICF to LHB. The life of railway coaches is 25 years, so they are still being used

I can’t speak for the past, but the current rake set servicing the Chennai Mysore Shatabdi are ICF manufactured LHB rakes. From what I understand of rake numbering schema, the first 2 digits indicate the year of manufacturing. Most rakes had 13,14 & 15 as the prefix. One of the gen car had 16 and the Anubhuthi class I travelled in had 17. I am attaching a picture of the plate from the K1 coach.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

Nice write up. From November 10th, we will have one more train option for Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore route. The fourth Vande Bharat express in the country is being introduced on the route.

However, it is not clear how much faster than the Shatabdi will it go? The Shatabdi is already a very fast train covering the Cheenai- Bangalore segment in as little as 4 hours 45 minutes!
.

I don't believe there will be much improvement in travel time till track upgrade to handle higher speeds are in place for the entire section. Currently SR and SCR are mostly focused on track upgrade in northern lines around Vijayawada, Guntur sections whereas SWR is doing towards North Karnataka. It may be to pave way for operation of Vande Bharat trains in Rajdhani lines.

[Fx14]

Originally Posted by subramak

They have at last count the following classes of travel, I wouldnt be surprised if a missed a couple of other pricing options

1. AC First Class
2. Two tier AC Sleeper
3. AC Sleeper Three tier
4. AC Sleeper Three Tier Economy
5. AC Three tier sleeper Garib Rath
6. Executive Chair Car
7. Anubhuti
8. AC Chair Car
9. Garib Rath AC Chair car
10. Sleeper class
11. second sittting
12. AC Three Tier Humsafar ( pricing varies from standard AC 3 tier)
13. Antyodaya - Unreserved
14. Unreserved
15. First Class - almost non existent

Two more categories :
AC Vistadome Chair Car
AC Double Decker Chair Car

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

Indianrailinfo has published the tentative time table for the Vande Bharat with a 5.50 am departure from Chennai arriving at KSR Bangalore at 10.25 am. This makes it only slightly faster than the Shatabdi - just 10 minutes faster to be precise for this segment.

Further tweaks can be expected post the few inaugural runs.

For example, the Mumbai Ahmedabad Vande Bharat was saving around an hour compared to the Shatabdi. After a fortnight or so of actual running, it was rescheduled to be another 10-20 minutes faster depending on which enroute station you consider.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by subramak

The quality of Chennai Bangalore Shatabdi is good because it uses the original rake supplied from Germany. Other rakes do not have the same quality.

Sorry, but that information is wrong. The Chennai Bangalore Shatabdi uses Indian built coaches, but based on German LHB technology. The original imported coaches are not in service anymore, and they were never operated on the Chennai Shatabdi.

[RRM]

Thankyou for the review. Once the bug of long drive by car bit me and hard, I haven’t travelled by train but by seeing such reviews it has created interest in travelling by train.

Still not all routes have such lucky trains as well as the leisure time to travel but someday may try!

[subramak]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Sorry, but that information is wrong. The Chennai Bangalore Shatabdi uses Indian built coaches, but based on German LHB technology. The original imported coaches are not in service anymore, and they were never operated on the Chennai Shatabdi.

Dear sir,

I have travelled in the original German built coaches in 12008 between MYS MAS in 2012 in EC.

Which information is wrong, the fact that I travelled or the codal life of coaches or the coaches are not in service anymore.

best, Subramanian

Originally Posted by SR-71

I can’t speak for the past, but the current rake set servicing the Chennai Mysore Shatabdi are ICF manufactured LHB rakes. From what I understand of rake numbering schema, the first 2 digits indicate the year of manufacturing. Most rakes had 13,14 & 15 as the prefix. One of the gen car had 16 and the Anubhuthi class I travelled in had 17. I am attaching a picture of the plate from the K1 coach.
Attachment 2370747

Thanks, just curious - are all coaches from ICF.

best, Subramanian

Note from Support: Posts merged. Please use the edit / multiquote functionality instead of back to back posts within 30 mins on the same thread.

[ampere]

Forget all the advances in railways. What remains close to the heart is that same feeling of seeing a huge locomotive chugging along the distant track.

That emotion and trying to see out of a window to check the curvature of the entire train knowing fully aware we can't do it; will remain in our hearts for ever.. no matter how much we age!

And yes the IR has come a long way and is heartwarming to see such a HUGE public sector office doing such an amazing job in moving the Indian population daily.

[Mustang Sammy]

Nice and detailed write up.

The multiple locks on the bathroom door make perfect sense, if you have ever been inside while someone is trying to force the door open, not realizing it is locked.

[narvind0110]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

Indianrailinfo has published the tentative time table for the Vande Bharat with a 5.50 am departure from Chennai arriving at KSR Bangalore at 10.25 am. This makes it only slightly faster than the Shatabdi - just 10 minutes faster to be precise for this segment. According to the site, it reaches Mysore at 12.30, i.e., in 6 hours 40 minutes - 20 minutes faster than Shatabdi.

Ideally, the VB should replace the Shatabdi. IR is already in the process of increasing the Max. Permissible Speeds (MPS) on this sector to 130KMPH by 2024 and travel time can come down to below 4hrs. If they add a stop at KR Puram, it has the potential to cater to a much larger target crowd.

[shrinz.vivek]

Originally Posted by subramak

Dear sir,

I have travelled in the original German built coaches in 12008 between MYS MAS in 2012 in EC.

The coach in which I travelled in had this VIN plate. And the image was from the Anubuthi coach.

[AkMar]

Original german built coaches were never with Southern railway. They are owned by Northern railway and still in service scattered around various Shatabdi rakes working out of New Delhi.

[amarprusty]

The fastest Vande Bharat (Mysore-Bangalore-Chennai) train is starting in November. It shall be a great alternative to the Shatabdhi.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by amarprusty

The fastest Vande Bharat (Mysore-Bangalore-Chennai) train is starting in November. It shall be a great alternative to the Shatabdhi.

Nice sarcasm. Really liked it!

On another note, this would perhaps be the slowest Vande Bharat in the country. And perhaps the first one to run into losses as well. The Shatabdi as such isn't doing great between Bangalore and Mysore (they sell tickets at a discount on that route, priced almost at the same rate as the bus - in order to fill up some seats). The Vande Bharat is scheduled to leave Bangalore much earlier on its journey towards Chennai - right behind the Double Decker and the Brindavan exp. What was actually needed was a train later in the evening - an opportunity missed, I'd say.