Travelled on 2678 Bangalore Inter city express between Alwaye and Bangalore. Normally I prefer KSRTC(Karnataka) Volvos or Rajahamsa buses, but however this time I had my father in law who is a senior citizen travelling with me who could not travel in buses. The night trains were already booked out when I finalised my journey hence I settled for the 2678 express which is a day train from Ernakulam to Bangalore(2677 runs the otherway, also during the day). This train was formerly running between Bangalore and Coimbatore as the Intercity express and now has been extended to Ernakulam.
The train has a AC 3 tier coach, 6 Sleeper class coaches(even though it is a day train - I understand this train subsequently runs as the Cochin Trichy overnight express once it reaches Ernakulam) and there are also some reserved Second class General coaches and a few unreserved ones as well.
I travelled in the sleeper class coach having reserved about a month back, The train reached Alwaye on time at 10 AM(nothing great as it only starts from Ernakulam 20 minutes before) and true to Indian railway tradition after having reached Palghat 20 minutes early managed to reach the next stop Coimbatore one hour late. It did not manage to gain time after that and reached Bangalore Cantonment one hour late at 2045. The other bad experience was that the middle berth I had reserved did not have any cushion but a rexin cover was put over the wooden board giving misleading impressions of everything normal. In the afternoon(since this is a sleeper coach) when we tried to use the berth we found that there were nails poking through. Luckily realised this before anything major happened . The other berths were all okay so I guess it was I ended up the victim of some maintenance supervisors super smart idea of saving time on quick repair.
Other than these minor irritants, the journey was surprisingly good . First thing is there are very few stops -only Alwaye, Trichur and Palghat in Kerala and around 6 stops after that(the notorious Island express has about two dozen). The train also has a pantry car with unexpectedly good food. The coach condition was above average generally and toilets clean. The "might of the season ticket holder/unreserved traveller" was fortunately not evident while the urchins/beggars inside the coaches were also very few(by Indian railways standards).
By the way this train has a SUPERFAST TAG and one pay 20 Rs as "superfast surcharge" for the privilege.
But beware this train has an average speed as per the published schedule of around 56 km/hour. Indian Raliways apparently(maybe someone can confirm this) classifies any train which travels over 55 km/hour as SUPERFAST.
So may be KSRTC can now charge LIGHTNING FAST charges for their Airavats(Volvos)!
Jokes apart overrall this is not a bad day time alternative between Ernakulam and Bangalore. One may need to reerve a week in advance to get a sleeper class booking but the main night train Island express gets booked out 2-3 weeks ahead and and also it traveld to Bangalore stopping at every other persons backyard which makes then the Intercity a good alternative. There is also a regular bi weekly super fast train which leaves Ernakulam on Sundays(and on another weekday) but while this train is also good, its arrival time at 0350 AM at Cantonment exposes you to "Demand Pricing" and "Market Forces Pricing" and all these other exotic economic theories as practiced by the Bangalore Auto and Taxi drivers.