Duronto 22207 – Review

Duronto 22207

Something that’s has been heard for long, Couple of months back people in Trivandrum also got the facility to travel to Chennai on it.

And I got a chance to travel on one that’s between MAS – TVC. That’s train number 22207.

One of the advantage ( for some disadvantage) is that Duronto doesn’t got any stop other than origin and destination. But it will stop at three places, but that would be just technical stops. Also, this train got only third AC and above level of coaches, No sleepers or General compartments.

Seats where easily available while I was booking tickets, was wondering why it was available two weeks before the travel date, while all other trains where sold out. The reason was the advantage I mentioned above. I was even surprised to see there are empty seats on the train reported by the local newspaper on the travel day,which includes tatkal seats.

Reached the station early to find multicoloured coaches, the exterior looked kinda dirty. But the interiors were clean and tidy, and the bathroom was the cleanest and dry, should I say that it was one of the rarest sight. Been to many places on train, but I haven’t seen any coach like this. Maybe just to the fact that it’s a new train and less used.

Train started on time, there where lot of empty seats and few of the adjacent seats was not occupied even after reservation.

Just as the train started an attendant came out distributing a local evening newspaper and a bottle of water(Rail Neer) to every passenger. Newspapers were available on both English as well as Tamil.

By 1700 hours, the same attendant came out handing over a tray to each person, it was tea and snacks. IRCTC outsourced the snacks to The French Loaf, they had provided a neat box with couple of eatables inside. It was accompanied with a small packet of juice, either a Jumpin or Frooti. The Green box contained a small veg puffs, a veg sandwich, couple of sachet of ketchup and four bars of chocolate.

Almost an hour later, the same attendant came with choice of tea/coffee. It contained one packet of coffee powder/tea bag, two sachet of milk powder, and one packet of sugar. And he provided with hot water and a stirrer. And the rest DIY. 😉

The train had a short stop at Katpadi Junction for a minute or so. That’s the first of three technical stops as reported during the inauguration. This happened at 1815.

Later by 1915 or something the same attendant came with some butter, a long shaped rusk and tomato soup.

When I boarded the train I had a thought that dinner was the only meal that would be available. After all these, that thought changed, understood that we are in for a treat.

By 1930 hours, dinner was served. I had opted for non-veg while I booked the ticket. Till now all the food items were vegetarian. The dinner was two chappathis, a good portion of rice(not plain, with peas and some stuff), Chicken curry (ample amount of chicken was there, while those who selected veg meals, the chicken curry was replaced by panneer masala ), good amount of dal, few vegetables that includes cucumber, carrot a tiny piece of lemon and a chilli, then a small tub of curd. And after sometime they provided us with a small ice cream.

Later we all settled down to get some sleep, the train did it’s second stop at Erode Junction by 2124,this one was a bigger stop it lasted for 5 mins or so.

Personally i felt that it is equal to or faster than the shatabdi trains, Did some diagnostic for 15 mins using the My tracks app on Android. The speed averaged between 105-110 km/hr, while the speed peaked at 110.5 km/hr. Didn’t do much diagnostic as I had to save battery for the whole night( I don’t trust charging phones on trains). The ride was kinda shaky as it depended on the track and the speed.

Later it did stop at many places, maybe for crossing or so, i do remember Ernakulam jn.

The next day morning, the train reached exactly on time. Total running time to be exact 12 hours and 45 minutes. Much lesser than many superfast trains between these two stations.

Final Words : It was indeed a good train, people who travel between chennai and tvm can choose this over the volvo buses, as both are charging almost the same(third AC), plus the comfort and food.