Journey in 12931 Double Decker! (BCT to BRC)

25 May 2013: Ah! The day had finally come when I was going to board 12931 DD to BRC. I was very excited for this journey as tired of everyday 6 hours of class without any holiday. Yes it is my SSC year but a break was needed.. The occasion to travel to BRC was thread ceremony of one of my cousins. I had gone there with my whole family. 2 months ago it was decided by all of us to go to BRC by DD. Hence tickets were booked. 

My seat was in C3 Upper deck and seat no 75ie track side, journey facing window! The journey started from Dahisar. I was going to board the train from BCT and hence took an EMU to BCT. Before that I met Saaluvesh- a MAS rf who had come to Mumbai. We did some spotting there and then I caught 1201 CCG EMU for BCT. The EMU was fairly crowded as it was a Saturday. I crossed 12925 Paschim with its usual link - GZB WAP 7. The EMU crawled till ADH and then again till BA. The run from BA to DDR was speedy but then again from DDR to BCT it crawled at snail's pace. It was 1250 by the time I reached BCT. I was expecting UP DD to reach behind me but it did not. It finally arrived at 1320. The link for 12932 was BRC WAP 5 30049. 
At BCT there was BRC WAP 5 30051 in AMUL livery. It had come with INDB-BCT Duranto Express. There was a WCAM 1, some 5 BRC WAP 4s, 3 BRC WAP 5s and 2 GZB WAP 5s. After a walk all around, I returned to the platform where my DD was and saw my relatives there. We all boarded the train and settled the luggage. After that I walked to the ADI end and saw that even though it was 1400 there was no sign of loco. But 5 mins later it came. BRC WAP 5 30055 was the one. Karnavati had left on time and the rake of 2961 Avantika had taken its place. Finally WAP 5 screamed loud and we pulled out of BCT at 1420. We cleared turn-outs and joined mainline. The train was doing good 70s , 80s and 90s. Soon we reached BVI the first halt of train. There entered a sea of people and choked the movement through coaches. I ran clearing through people and reached my seat before the train left as I had to take video of acceleration. WAP 5 accelerated very good and blasted Dahisar at 100kmph. We soon slowed down at MIRA as it has TSR of 75 and then again gained speed. Blasting through the remaining suburban stations we crossed VR and other stations. The train was going at speed from 120 to 126 in VR-DRD section. I decided to enjoy the feast that was brought after cruising through suburban section. We had slow downs at regular intervals. Th train finally reached VAPI half an hour late. After a 2 mins halt it departed. Crossed many freights and WAP 4 led trains. Crossed KZJ WDM 3A led RJT-CBE Express somewhere after VAPI. I decided to enjoy journey and leave spottings. Soon we reached ST outer. Crossing signal after signal we moved ahead slowly. I saw BRC WAP 5 led DDR-AII behind me. We entered ST 25 mins late and met 12010 Shatabdi there. It was with BRC WAP 5 30048. We left ST and were doing MPS. ST - BH run was quickest of all. Reached BH 10 mins late. Crossed UBL WDP 4B twins led 1.5 hrs late running JU-SBC Exp. We were soon 30 mins late and had reached BRC outer. We got entry into BRC at 2005 and I got down from the train. And thus the journey was ended. 

Over all the coaches were good. The seats had less foam which sometimes resulted in discomfort. The seats reclined very less. The seats on no pantry side were very cramped. Journey was fairly good. Only thing is that due to Karnavati being ahead and slowing down DD at many occasions. I would rate DD coaches 7/10.
Thank you!