Myself and my colleague took the 'Rajdhani Express' bound for Delhi from Chennai on the 11th of Jan 2009. I reached the station ( Chennai Central ) half an hour before the scheduled departure of the train which was at 6:10 am. I was in coach A2 and my colleague in A3. The train journey started off smoothly, with the train moving from Chennai Central at the right time,picking up speed and reaching the next stations on time. At Rajdhani we get free food & snacks ( actually the cost of it is included in the 2700 buck ticket itself). I refrained from having lunch or dinner at Rajdhani because the subzi they provide is watery and rice hard to chew. The other reason is; I fell sick the first time I travelled by Rajdhani, was diagnosed with typhoid and was laid down for 2 whole weeks.
The train was right on time at Vijayawada, Warangal,Balharshah. Things went on smoothly until the inevitable happened. A Goods train had derailed after Bhopal station, blocking the train traffic going North completely. Our train also reached Nagpur at the intended time, 20:30 hrs,after that I had my dinner ( Roti & Kesari) which I got packed from home prepared by my sweet Mom. I dozed off after my dinner, thinking about the work to be done the next day regarding my project and calclulating the amount the taxi wala would charge for the trip from Delhi to Alwar. My eyes took a sneak outside the window at 5:45 the next morning and I could sense that the train was not moving, waiting at a station which I didn't bother to note. Thirty five minutes passed,I took a peek outside the window to see the train still stranded at the same place. I started getting worried and got up, brushed my teeth and got off the train to relax my cramped leg muscles, giving myself some exercise. I learnt from my co-passengers that a Goods train had derailed outsdie Bhopal and the train was running 9 hrs late. My reaction was Holy Moly! how am I going to get to Alwar on time? I walked up to the Engine, peeked inside it,taking in the details of the controls,gears etc. I asked the engine driver as to how much time would it take from here to Delhi? He replied that we were at Itarsi ( a station where Rajdhani doesn't stop) and it would take atleast 10 more hrs to reach Delhi. Disapointed I walked back to my coach. To my surprise the train started to pull of from Itarsi at 7:00, I was happy that were back on track but the train was put on hold for more than 8 hrs on some small station before Bhopal.
My patience was running out, I got off the train,pacing up and down, going to the engine, standing in front of it,pushing it to go and praying to GOD please why is this happening? I learnt later that the electric engine which was driving the train had failed and a coal powered engine was despatched from Bhopal to replace it. The coal powered engine came, I saw how an engine attaches with the bogies and went back thrilled to my coach thinking our problems are resolved only to find later that the train was still not moving. I was confused and puzzled at the same time. I came to know from my fellow travellers that the coal powered engine didn't have enough power to pull the entire train. So another diesel powered engine was despatched from Bhopal. Finally we started moving and reached Bhopal at 1700 hrs ( 15hrs behind scheduled arrival) on 12 Jan . I must really appreciate the Rajdhani coach attendants for they took good care of us, providing us timely meals and snacks even though they couldn't relenish their stock.
The train finally reached Nizammudin at 2:00 on 13th. It was chilling outside. We got off the train and walked out of the rear side of the station only to find the hotel I was looking for was nowhere in sight. We had the option of travelling to Alwar in the wee hours of the cold morning or staying the night at Delhi and leaving for Alwar at 7:00 in the morning. We chose the later over a cup of tea at a local tea stand outside Nizammudin at 2:15 in the morning. We checked into a guest house called Rajdhani ( coincidence and identical with the train name), rattling the guest house door and such an odd time. Finally we dozed off on the bed and left for Alwar at 7:30 on 13th morning which was cold and foggy, hampering the taxi's normal highway speed.
