[Vishal.R]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

..But they do give a lot of jerk on speeding up or braking. They've actually reduced fatalities in derailments.

As per this excellent report, these jerks are very much reduced in Tejas coaches.

Source:
. (Mumbai Rajdhani Express | Experiencing the King of Western Railway in the Tejas Avatar)

[lsjey]

I've been a skeptic of the Indian Railways most of the times. I used to fear the long lines in the reservation counters. The IRCTC website experience has never been an exciting one for me.

I simply cannot understand why site needs to go down every day for maintenance. And the site is never up by the committed time. Just now I'm waiting for the site to come up for checking availability and booking tickets. It sure is frustrating.

I keep waiting for Indian railways to be privatized. Hope it happens soon.

Regards,
lsjey

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Vishal.R

As per this excellent report, these jerks are very much reduced in Tejas coaches.

Can attest to that. Travel between Bangalore and North Karnataka quite often. Recently the train I always take has been upgraded with the new coaches and it's a much smoother, quieter experience. The fittings and overall interiors are significantly better. But I'm not sure how durable they are, they don't seem as robust as the earlier fittings. Given our usage hope they last for as long as they are supposed to. But the new coaches are certainly quieter inside.

Overall, I find that the Indian railways experience has improved, especially compared to the train journeys I remember from school and college days. (At least the reserved 3 and 2-AC coach travel.) While airplane travel has gone in the opposite direction! A considerably worsening experience each year right from booking and inevitable rescheduling of flights, hours spent getting to the airport, long lines for security check, overpriced bad food and inevitable bad handling by overworked airline staff. (At least in cattle-class which is all I can afford.)

If there's a choice between an overnight train and a flight, I'll take the train any day!

Originally Posted by lsjey

The IRCTC website experience has never been an exciting one for me.

Surprising. Have always had a good experience with the app and site. And I book train tickets at least once every couple of months.

[WindRide]

Anyone using erail.in on Chrome to check train seat availability?
Even after adding the eRail chrome extension to chrome and restarting chrome, when i check for seat availability for any train, i see it opens a new tab pointing to www.indianrail.gov.in and data is fetched from it and shown on the erail seat availability page. I remember this wasn't the case last time i used erail some time back. Anyone else seeing this behaviour?

[Gordon]

Hello all, have a few queries regarding our upcoming train (12432 - TVC Rajdhani) and since I didn't want to open a new thread only for this, I'm posting it here.

Since we couldn't get tickets to Udupi from LTT or CST or any station within Mumbai, we managed to get lower berth/sr citizen tickets from Panvel Station. Seems the TVC Rajdhani will arrive on platform 7 at 2310 hrs approximately.

1. How accessible is the platform 7 on Panvel Station for senior citizens?
2. We are planning to take a train from Andheri to Panvel to ease the journey? Is changing platform senior citizen friendly?
3. Is wheelchair available at Panvel station?
4. We have opted for Food, but will be boarding at 2310 Hrs. Will food be served?

Thank you in advance!

[Punto_Ntorq Guy]

Originally Posted by Gordon

Hello all, have a few queries regarding our upcoming train (12432 - TVC Rajdhani) and since I didn't want to open a new thread only for this, I'm posting it here.

Since we couldn't get tickets to Udupi from LTT or CST or any station within Mumbai, we managed to get lower berth/sr citizen tickets from Panvel Station. Seems the TVC Rajdhani will arrive on platform 7 at 2310 hrs approximately.

1. How accessible is the platform 7 on Panvel Station for senior citizens?
2. We are planning to take a train from Andheri to Panvel to ease the journey? Is changing platform senior citizen friendly?
3. Is wheelchair available at Panvel station?
4. We have opted for Food, but will be boarding at 2310 Hrs. Will food be served?

Thank you in advance!

Hi

Panvel (PNVL) is separated from local train station. Forget about wheel chair, lights itself scant at PNVL on express trains side.

That said food on TVC Rajdhani is terrible. No dinner post embarking as dinner will be served before Vasai Road . Wouldn’t touch it with barge pole. E-catering is fairly reliable. Put COD though ( even in worst case will not loose money)

Didn’t you get tickets in Rocket ( CSMT- MAJN) or Matsyagandha ??

Try putting the entire length I.e from CSMT/ LTT to MAJN/ MAQ


Indian Railways Quota system itself should be a separate thread.

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by Gordon

Since we couldn't get tickets to Udupi from LTT or CST or any station within Mumbai, we managed to get lower berth/sr citizen tickets from Panvel Station. Seems the TVC Rajdhani will arrive on platform 7 at 2310 hrs approximately.

1. How accessible is the platform 7 on Panvel Station for senior citizens?
2. We are planning to take a train from Andheri to Panvel to ease the journey? Is changing platform senior citizen friendly?
3. Is wheelchair available at Panvel station?
4. We have opted for Food, but will be boarding at 2310 Hrs. Will food be served?

Thank you in advance!

1) Not easy. There is a possibility that you may need to walk and take stairs. Not wheelchair friendly for sure. Royal pain if the train platform is changed at last minute.
2) Answered above.
3) Limited numbers are available but subject to availability - of either the chair or the staff that manages it.
4) No idea about this.

In short if you have a dependency of wheelchair, avoid Panvel (or any enroute station). Better to take the train from starting point only - CST, BCT, Bandra Terminus, LTTE, etc.

[Punto_Ntorq Guy]

Originally Posted by sunilch

In short if you have a dependency of wheelchair, avoid Panvel (or any enroute station). Better to take the train from starting point only - CST, BCT, Bandra Terminus, LTTE, etc.

Mumbai is seprated into two railway zones CR & WR.

Panvel, Thane, Dadar (central), LTT (Lokmanya Tilak Terminus), CSMT (Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus are on CR. Most Trains to South India (Konkan bound trains), Central, East (Some amount of North bound trains) start from here.

Mumbai Central, Dadar (western), Bandra, Vasai Road are on WR side. Trains Towards North, West certain trains to North Start from here. Only certain specials to south (Bandra - Velankanni/ Vasco Specials) start from WR side

Apart from this certain through trains from Gujarat, Rajasthan, North India touches both fringes of WR & CR. (via Vasai Road- Bhiwandi- Kopar- Panvel or Kopar- Kalyan - Karjat route)

[Gordon]

Thanks for the much helpful replies. The ticket is actually from Vasai, I haven't changed the boarding point it to Panvel yet. Last we checked, at Vasai the train can come either on platform 6 or 7 which shares the same platform, so no worries of last minute change.

Please lemme know about this:
I've heard that Vasai has escalators/lifts to move between platforms. So either we can take the train to Vasai or we can drop them by car on the east side of the station.

[Punto_Ntorq Guy]

Originally Posted by Gordon

Thanks for the much helpful replies. The ticket is actually from Vasai, I haven't changed the boarding point it to Panvel yet. Last we checked, at Vasai the train can come either on platform 6 or 7 which shares the same platform, so no worries of last minute change.

I see you are going travel from Andheri. BSR ( Vasai Road) is actually a good option.
Will suggest you take a Virar Local till Vasai Road ( from Andheri) in any non peak hour to see for yourself wrt amenities like escalators/ wheel chairs.

BSR has Island PF for Express trains. So mostly PF change’s shouldn’t matter. TVC Raj 12432 comes in PF 7.

[JMaruru]

Does waitlisted train tickets gets cancelled automatically and the amount refunded OR do we have to do online(IRCTC) cancellation before the train departure to get the refund?

I would like to know about this for general and tatkal waitlisted tickets.
Please advise.

[ppc_rgs]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

Does waitlisted train tickets gets cancelled automatically and the amount refunded OR do we have to do online(IRCTC) cancellation before the train departure to get the refund?

I would like to know about this for general and tatkal waitlisted tickets.
Please advise.

As far as online booking at IRCTC is concerned, all wait listed tickets after chart preparation are automatically cancelled and refund get credited in few days.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

Does waitlisted train tickets gets cancelled automatically and the amount refunded OR do we have to do online(IRCTC) cancellation before the train departure to get the refund?

I would like to know about this for general and tatkal waitlisted tickets.
Please advise.

Ticket cancellation happens automatically after chart preparation for both GNWL and TQWL.

However, when it comes to preference of allocation in waitlist, GNWL is given more priority over tatkal. Better to have a GNWL over TQWL

[denzdm]

Originally Posted by Gordon

Please lemme know about this:
I've heard that Vasai has escalators/lifts to move between platforms. So either we can take the train to Vasai or we can drop them by car on the east side of the station.

I had to drop my family for the same train at Vasai last week. There were no escalators for Platform 6&7. I saw a lift at the end of the footbridge. However, unsure if it was operational and also it only offers mobility from the road to the footbridge. Getting down that stairs is the only option I saw for Platform 6&7. Also, based on the position of the coach, there is fair walking to be done too on the platform.

[Oxy]

Folks, is there a world of difference (comfort and facilities wise) between the normal chair car and the Executive chair car of the Vande Bharat, given the Executive fare is almost twice the normal fare?