RN/Ratnagiri (3 PFs)

रत्‍नागिरी

रत्‍नागिरी

Track: Single Electric-Line

Yo, this train's timetable is straight up whack when it comes to giving some chill time. They got 2 hours and 45 minutes for just 30 freaking kilometers between Sawantwadi and Thivim. I guess the person in charge was hella lazy and just randomly threw in any numbers that popped into their head. They gotta distribute that slack more evenly and come up with a better schedule, especially since this festival special runs during the busiest times of the year. Vivek

You can watch the video travelogue here. I travelled on the 22229 CSMT MAO Vande Bharat Express from Thane to Madgaon on November 8th, 2023. Here are some things I noticed: - This train leaves CSMT at 05:35, while the 12051 Madgaon Jan Shatabdi leaves at 05:10. When the 22229 train arrived at Thane at 06:00, the 12051 train hadn't arrived yet. Announcements were made about the arrival of the 22229 train on Platform #7 after the Gorakhpur Express departed. The overtaking must have happened at Vidyavihar on the 5th line. - There were around 30 empty seats after the chart was prepared at 04:00. I had booked a window seat but was given an aisle seat in C7, the leading power car. - This train had red seats which I found to be more comfortable than the blue seats in the Dharwad VB. - They served tea/coffee right after leaving Thane. They had already placed a bottle of water and a newspaper on the seat. Nice! - The train maintained speeds of 100-110 until Roha. The vibrations were strong and my tray table wasn't stable enough, causing my tea to spill from the cup. - Breakfast was served before Roha and I chose the only available option for current reservation passengers, which was the vegetarian option. Non-vegetarian option was also available for those who had booked in advance. The vegetarian meal included two vada pavs, three theplas, a guava drink, pickle and ketchup, and a packet of chiwda. I would give it a good rating. - They served a second round of tea/coffee only for those who asked. I couldn't understand how anyone could drink hot coffee after having a cold glass of guava juice. - Once we entered KR (Konkan Railway), the speed increased to 120kmph and remained consistent for most of the journey. There were occasional caution orders, but the train effortlessly went back to cruising at 120kmph. - We overtook trains 22654 and 12618 in this section. - The halt at Khed was not great. - We passed Chiplun at 120kmph. It was amazing! - A few people got off at Ratnagiri, so I took the window seat on the 2-seater side. - One strange thing about this train is that the footrest is unusable for passengers sitting in the aisle. - There was enough flexibility in the schedule, so we stopped at Nivasar to let the Mangaluru Udhna Special train cross, and at Zarap to let the Mandovi train cross. - Most of the passengers got off at Thivim and we had a long 20+ minute halt to let the Goa Sampark Kranti train cross and for the Thivim LTT holiday special's locomotive to be switched. - I glanced inside the cabin through the open door after Ratnagiri and saw some officials doing an inspection. I didn't want to bother them, so I went back to my seat. - They didn't serve lunch. - We arrived at Madgaon on time.