Venkatarangan TNC

By train - Chennai to Bangalore

For a business meeting tomorrow I had to come to Bangalore. It so happened in the last 5 to 6 years that I almost always did morning-evening same day return flights from Chennai to Bangalore due to my schedules and my dislike for Railway stations. Considering the growing hassles of the hour-long queues in Airport securities and the praises I was hearing from my colleagues/media about the improved service in Indian Railways I decided this time to give Train a try.

Just now I reached Bangalore after travelling by Shatabdi Express that reached Bangalore Cantonment at 10.20PM (STA 10.05PM) which started from Chennai at 5:30PM sharp. The overall experience was very good, I am certainly pleased and I want to do this more often than the flights - I guess this is more greener as well. Comparing to Indian Railway's historic (lack of) standards everything was clean including the coaches, seats, toilets and above all the stations at both end. I travelled in the Executive coach and the service was certainly good, they kept giving you something to eat through out the journey - Samosas, Cool Drink, Biscuits, Cashews, Waffers, Coffee/Tea, Soap, Dinner and Ice-Cream. I was surprised to hear that they had PA systems in the coaches in which they kept announcing things like crews names, delays, approaching station, time of arrival, etc.

Above all I liked the idea you can be connected through a data card through out the journey and keep working on your laptop catching up on your work. For instance, in the first one hour, I finished most of my pending emails and in the next few hours 3/4th of a book.

Keep up the good work Indian Railways, Thanks Mr.Lalu & Team for giving us a good experience.