I have been using this train to travel from chennai-mumbai for the past ten years. I have travelled nearly every month in this train for the past three years.
The scenery has been the same so as the speed of the train and the quality of the service provided to the passengers. The speed has been unchanged as the reason given by the authorities is that chennai-mumbai line is a ’’single track line’’. There are three trains running on this line, the other two being slower than these so it can be imagined as to how bad it is to travel on this line. It is called the dry line, as no amenities are provided to the passenger on any of the major stations.
In ten years the only change I have seen on this line is that the fare has been ever increasing and the number of passengers also increasing at the same rate. It has become a local train than an EXPRESS. Passengers get in and get out at their whims and fancies. Also the beggars especially the eunuchs, they are in the train even during the nights, no one to question them or take care of the safety of the passengers. There is nobody to regulate them, and of course most of the time there is no Ticket Examiner on this train. They are powerless to do anything about the complaints of the passengers. And when this train reaches the karnataka border both ways I have seen people using this as a local train to reach their working place, there is no place even to stand for the reserved passengers.
The major change which is positive is the pantry car which has been attached and the punctuality of the departure timing.
All of you may question on why I have been travelling in this train regularly, What can I do, I have no other option but to choose the the best of the worst lot.