The Queen..!!!!

Time for yet another ride and in this instance, it was on one of the most prestigious train in the entire IR network – 12124 Deccan Queen from Pune to Mumbai. It was sort of a last minute plan but there was no second thought in choosing how to reach Mumbai. For the journey on the last week of April, We did book through tatkal with ease while the general quota was hovering around W/L 45. My friend’s place was very nearer to the station and hence it was not an uphill task for us to reach Pune Jn at 6.45 in the morning, 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time.

As we entered the station, CSTM bound 11024 Sahayadri express was getting ready to depart from PF3. Shortly then, a rebuilt WDM3A 16656R from GTL shed brought the DC in its typical blue and white livery on PF1. It was a mix of feelings on seeing the chart, I got the track-side window seat while my friend was bestowed with a seat diagonally opposite to me. We then roamed on the platform in search of something to pacify our hunger but wait, how did we forget the renowned dining cum pantry car in DC???

It was all decided to have the breakfast within the train. With the curiosity to check our loco, we ventured ahead to the front and saw the attaching rituals of 21888 WCAM3 from KYN. As the loco was getting attached, we returned to our coach D1 – dedicated for CK quota. An young person in his late twenties showed no hesitation in exchanging his seat with my friend’s. Pune is not a station that can boast about its cleanliness and the environment was not comfortable within the train with the windows being kept open. I was then greeted by the 12264 NZM – Pune duranto which consisted of both duranto and normal ICF liveried coaches on PF2 behind 21863 WCAM2P of Valsad. Later the shunter 36258 of PUNE shed carried the empty coaches of Duranto to coaching depot. On PF4, the rake of 12150 PNBE-PUNE express was lying idle.

At 07.15, a short toot was heard signalling the departure of our train. It was immediately business all the way for the 4600 hp monster. Outskirts of pune - Khadki, Pimpri and Chinchwad were crossed at MPS. Being Friday, people were getting ready to work just one last time for the week. In the meantime, we tasted a plate of sabudhana vada, a traditional snack item in Western India. The plain terrain was gradually moving towards gradient section and we arrived at Lonavala sharply at 08.00. Being off-season, lush and green environment has paved way to dry and sulky ambience. LNL provided a great share of patronage to the already overflowing queen. We left LNL exactly after 2 minutes. Shortly then, Pune bound Indrayani whizzed past us, powered by a WCAM2P.

A heated argument erupted here as a group of three people who boarded the train at LNL argued that their seats had been already occupied by unauthorized people. They were showing the message from IRCTC which interestingly had the same seat numbers. Everyone started their own theory of how same seats can be assigned to different sets of people while an elder gentleman later figured that those people have wrongly boarded the 12124 Queen instead of 12126 Pragati as there is only 30 minutes time difference between those two trains. Height of embarrassment..!!!!!

Just as we started to accelerate, there was a slow-down resulting in eventual one minute halt at khandwala. The unscheduled halt was actually to allow a freighter loco to overtake us. After all these sight-seeing, we finally decided to fill our tummy. With the fear of encroachment of our seats, I alone went to the pantry car to check out the menu. Dining area is at the end of pantry car and needless to say, it was fully occupied. I waited for some time to see if we can have our breakfast there but the huge crowd waiting there invariably resulted in me heading back to the coach after grabbing three plates of bread omelette.

The ghat section doesn’t offer any high speed action and we crossed series of trains - Pune bound intercity 12127, MMR – Pune exp and SBC bound 16529 Udyan. After karjat, the pilots allowed the beast to roar and the outskirts of Mumbai flew by in a jiffy. By this time, the parade of MRVC’s from CR has started and there was a visual treat in terms of innumerous parallel actions on the P-way. We sneaked into KYN at 09.35 which was our second commercial halt right after LNL. At Kalyan, 12110 CSTM bound Panchavati joined us from the Igatpuri side with 21937 WCAM3 at the helm. Then KJM WDP4 20043 towed the 11029 Koyna express into Kalyan on its way to Kolhapur.

After a customary two minute halt at KYN, We headed towards the destination. By now, the intensity of EMU parade has increased by leaps and bounds. It was quite visible as to why Suburban rail network is regarded as the lifeline of Mumbai – Umpteen number of stations, hundreds of EMUs, lakhs of commuters. But nothing could diminish the priority of mighty queen. We crossed Diva Jn at 09.50 and continued our good run till Dadar (10.05) and finally landed up in CSTM on PF12 when the time was 10.30. Honestly DC didn’t disappoint me - Be it cleanliness, speed, food; the reputation was unquestionable.