Pondicherry Train Journey

For people whom the Title looks new, I must tell you that now there is a train to Pondicherry (now Puducherry) from Bangalore on every Friday night at 11.15PM from Yeshwathpur(YPR) railway station(RS). Personally I haven't traveled by train much, so I had some kind of enthuse in traveling by train. I had decided to travel alone as some of my friends were hesitating as the boarding point was in Yeshwathpur which was far from where we stay in Blore. So I did some R&D and gathered some basic info from the net, Indian Train was useful.I recommend reading it, if you are new to Indian train journey.

All set, the day of travel came. Started from Home at 9.30PM and suppose to travel from Muniswara Temple Stop (also called as KMF) to YPR through Majestic. There was not much of Traffic yet the bus to Majestic was slow. Anyways it managed to reach there at 10.10PM which was expected. However I was not aware of the distance to the YPR from Majestic, still I was very hopeful I can reach by bus in time. Headed towards platform No.21 and got 252 which goes to YPR RS. I was not really aware of the root or the distance, so after 15 min of travel I just enquired the conductor when the bus will reach RS, as I was surprised to hear that within 5 min it would reach there. Reached the RS by 10.30PM which made me bit cool, as I was tensed that I might get late.

Had a casual walk and reached Platform No.6, where the enquiry office was there. He answered in the usual tone, that the platform num was not decided and I am supposed to wait for an announcement. I made a clever choice to wait in the middle of the overhead crossing, so that I can reach any of the platform easily after the announcement.


Noticed a nice Green colour sleeper coach coming in at PF No.6, it was a sleeper coach with nice beds and tables, I thought wow! this is a nice train. While the train was moving to stand in its position, I could notice "GARIB RATH" written in one of the coaches. It clicked me that may be Pondicherry train, as it was the same 3A (3-tier AC) Garib Rath. It was confirmed by the LED display at PF 6, showing "2255 PUDUCHERRY EXPRESS 6". Got down to search for G9 coach, and checked the Passenger list for my Name, it was Seat No.4. It was so nice inside the train, neat and comfortable births and good seats and toilets. Everything was pleasing I started enjoying the atmosphere. Mine was a Side Lower birth, though I had many options to choose (as the train was free), I chose to sit there initially to enjoy the moving window view (of course, not much was visible in the night) and I wanted to be awake until I reach the next boarding point, which is Banaswadi.


Train started at 11.20 and the train reached Banaswadi, in another 20 min. I got down at Banawadi boarding point, however it was night and could see only the name of the railway station, "BANASWADI" in big yellow colour board. Train stops only for 2 min in other stations except Viruchachalam and Villupuram, where the Engines are changed from front to rear and vice-versa. bedsheets, blankets and pillow are distributed by railways for a nominal cost of Rs. 25.


Had a nice sleep and woke up around 7.15 AM, when the train had stopped at Virudhachalam Station. Washed my face and got down from the train and had a good coffee for Rs.5 and relaxed for 15 min there. It tool 20 minutes for them to change the engine from front side to rear side, to change the direction of travel. I guess the same happens at Villupuram station as well. I was just enjoying the green sceneries of our villages and had a chat with a co-passenger. We were discussing why the train was starting on Saturday from Pondicherry, which is not very useful for the passengers. By the time train reached villupuram in an hour which was about 8.30 AM and I got down from the train. I was feeling very fresh and energetic. WOW! Overall it was a very good experience and I enjoyed the journey very much.


Tough I had an initial impression that the journey will be too long in terms of time. It was not actually, as the travel itself was very enjoyable experience. I recommend people to travel and experience it. Two things which are distinctly different from bus travel are:
You wont feel any tired after the journey, in fact you might fell fresh at the end of the journey.
The travel itself was a pleasant experience, which was not the case in our Buses. In buses we wait for the destination to come, which is an indication that the travel itself is not pleasant. being enjoyed.

These is all about my personal experience, might not be same for all. So better you experiment it!

Some useful facts are listed below. These are taken for irctc website around first week of Feb09 . Might change so check the website for up to date info:

Train num & DAY (WEEKLY):

Train.No. 2256 Puducherry – Yesvantpur (SATURDAY)
Train.No. 2255 Yesvantpur – Puducherry (FRIDAY)
The trains will have 16 AC 3-tier coaches.

Price:

Current Fares after increase in April 2013:
YPR to PDY - Rs.480
YPR to VILLUPURAM(VM) - Rs.450

Old Fare (Only for reference):
YPR to PDY - Rs.381
YPR to VILLUPURAM(VM) - Rs.356

Route & Time:

NEW TIME TABLE (effective from  10th May 2013):
S# Stn Code Stn Name Route No Arrival Departure Distance Day
1 YPR YESVANTPUR JN 1 - 23:15 0000 1
2 BAND BANASWADI 1 23:38 23:40 0015 1
3 HSRA HOSUR 1 00:26 00:28 0066 2
4 DPJ DHARMAPURI 1 01:58 02:00 0159 2
5 SA SALEM JN 1 04:00 04:05 0225 2
6 ATU ATTUR 1 05:13 05:15 0281 2
7 CHSM CHINNA SALEM 1 05:43 05:45 0313 2
8 VRI VRIDHACHALAM JN 1 07:10 07:20 0364 2
9 VM VILLUPARAM JN 1 08:05 08:15 0419 2
10 PDY PUDUCHERRY 1 09:20 - 0456 2

Old Time Table (Only for reference):
S# Stn Code Stn Name Route Arrival Departure Distance Day
1 PDY PUDUCHERRY 1 - 22:00 0000 1
2 VM VILLUPARAM JN 1 22:35 22:45 0038 1
3 VRI VRIDHACHALAM JN 1 23:35 23:45 0093 1
4 CHSM CHINNA SALEM 1 00:48 00:50 0144 2
5 ATU ATTUR 1 01:28 01:30 0176 2
6 SA SALEM JN 1 02:50 02:55 0232 2
7 DPJ DHARMAPURI 1 04:30 04:32 0298 2
8 HSRA HOSUR 1 06:02 06:04 0391 2
9 BAND BANASWADI 1 07:20 07:22 0442 2
10 YPR YESVANTPUR JN 1 08:25 - 0456 2

Update to initial post:
Also now we have another Train (Chakya Express) which is Tri-Weekly runs from Dadar (Mumbai) to PDY which goes through Bangalore. This train is very useful to return on Sunday from PDY to BLR. Its stops at KR Puram, Cantonment and Yeswathpur. This Train has 2A, 3A, Sleeper and UR coaches. Normally this Trains gets to WL while booking. 100% times those have got confirmed (this I am writing as on 17th May 2013, situation might change in future). This goes to WL is due to issues in Allocation of Seats, there are more seats allocated to from PDY to Mumbai. However that will not get full, thus all the WL to BLR will get confirmed seat at the end. Even during festival seasons I have got it confirmed. Disclosing all the secrets :-) Hope its useful to you to plan your journey without worrying about your ticket being in WL. Enjoy the journey!!