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Blog Posts by sourindra55
Page#    15 Blog Entries  <<prev  next>>
Train Tip
75276 views
9

Jun 26 2022 (19:30)   12246/SMVT Bengaluru - Howrah Duronto Express
Sourindra
Sourindra   15 blog posts
Entry# 5391661            Tags   Past Edits
Traveled on 12246 on 10 June and returned back on 12245 on 25 June. Was onboard AC 2 Tier (A1) on the both the trips. To be honest, it was one of the worst Duronto Train I have ever traveled on. First thing first, I will break up my trip report into the following ways where I will rate it out of 5;

Food: 0/5. Poor Quality of Food. Totally Poor. In Veg, there is only one option which is Paneer Butter Masala (As per the Caterer), however as per the passenger
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it is more of four pieces of paneer in some kind of oily-yellowish curry. There is no other option. Yes, for 12246, in dinner one can get Mix Veg, but that's quality is far worse and inferior than the Paneer. In Nov-Veg, one can choose between Egg and Chicken. Better go with the Chicken, because Egg Curry is more of like two eggs in yellow watery oil curry. No taste, nothing. Atleast, the chicken curry was tasty. In the entire journey, you will get three variation of dal. In first day lunch a watery dal, in dinner, dal looks more like a paste and in next day lunch, the dal is more of a like a yellow water. If they serve Roomali Rotis, then yeah its okay, otherwise if they serve you normal rotis, better not to have it. In place of tea, they are handing out hot water with tea kit. God know how one is going to make a tea, via hands ? No cutlery is provided. Only one plastic white spoon. Ice Creams are served hot, fully melted. During my return journey in 12245, in lunch instead of ice cream they started serving out Soan Cake. And their excuse was that the fridge was not working properly.

Cleanliness: 0/5. Specifically for A1. During both course of my journey and also during my journey in 02245/02246 Duronto COVID Special, each time the A1 was some old coach. Seats were worn out, the toilets were dirty . Howsoever, OBHS cleans it, but the old dents would not got. Seems like were never refurbished. OBHS was sitting all the way in the TTE seat and were seldom cleaning the gallery of the coach. However, during my return journey in 12245, A1 was making some very weird humming noise. First I thought it must be from the EOG. However, it was different. When I went to H1, there was no sound such. Additionally, heavy jerks were experienced throughout the journey.

Security; 1/5. Not a single RPF personal I saw in the entire journey. During each stoppage, vendors and beggers were coming inside the train. I have never experienced the same while travelling in premium trains such as Rajdhani and Duronto.

Punctuality: 5/5. Atleast in this matter, it won't upset you. I had to catch 12341 Agniveena (Bidhan) from Howrah. And my only concern was the evening suburban traffic. However, it pulled in at time. So no complaint on this matter.

Ticket Availability: 3/5. It is the only premium train with the shortest time travel between Kolkata and Bangalore. If you want to book tickets in Sleeper, better book it in time and that too in ARP period. SL gets booked much fast and runs jam packed throughout the year. For AC classes, you can get ticket even if you book 20 days prior to your travel. However, for AC 2, it gets filled much quicker as compared to AC First and AC 3. It is better if IR augments 12245/12246 with one additional AC 2 Tier.

Railfanning: 5/5. I think much is written about it. But in an all, a good train for for rail-fanning. The daylight crossing on the second day is absolutely the best, specifically skipping some of the major stations of Odisha such as Bhadrak and others.

Conclusion: The train was best of its kind, before COVID-19. Everything was good. However, post COVID-19 everything has changed. Food quality to everything. Earlier only Caterer use to ask for tips. Now OBHS and Attendants too ask for "Bakshish". The way things are going, it seems that after few years, even Guards, TTE and LP would also be asking for some Bakshish. Linens were terrible. No blankets were provided. I have traveled in ER's premium trains and in SER's premium trains as well. But to be honest, ER's premium trains have far much better service that SERs.

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Train Tip
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6

Nov 13 2020 (04:36)   02630/Karnataka Sampark Kranti SF Special (Via Pune) (PT)
Sourindra
Sourindra   15 blog posts
Entry# 4776896            Tags   Past Edits
Travelled from Nizamuddin to Belgaum in AC 2 Tier (A1 Coach). The major concern during this time is the food. Yes the train has pantry and they are providing food. Tea, Biscuits, Ready to Eat Noodles are supplied by the Pantry alongside mineral water and the other beverages. In case of Dinner and Lunch, Pantry is offering Ready to Eat Meals from Haldirams (Veg only). Kadhi Pakoda, Dal Tadka, Chana Rice and Shahi Paneer are the varieties available. Except Shahi Paneer whose price is ₹165, the rest of the items price is ₹155. And this is the printed price, no overhead charges. They are also selling Egg Biryani and Veg Biryani, but they won't be selling it directly, if you want you need to ask them. Egg Biryani is ₹100 and Veg Biryani is ₹80. In breakfast they are offering as usual Bread Omelette and Bread Cutlet (both ₹50). My first...
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suggestion would be try bringing your own food if you can. If you can't then go for the Haldirams packaged food and at the end Biryani from Pantry. I tasted the Pantry one, because I didn't have any option, and believe me it was worst. More like two eggs in a Khichdi. Pantry would also be selling Samosa, Pakoda and Kachori. If you are not comfortable with all these options, you van avail food from the Stations too. Since timing of Jhansi, Bhopal and Pune matches with the Lunch, Dinner and Breakfast respectively, thus you can avail from the station too. Yes stations too are selling packaged meal, but would rather suggest you to stick with Haldirams one (if option available). Cleanliness is maintained highly. Thanks to the OBHS, washrooms and all were periodically cleaned and sanitised. Added to it in each and every big stations, Station Staff too is cleaning and sanitising. So full marks on that. If you are thinking to choose this train for Bangalore, please don't. This train os good for people doing intermediate journey. Train almost remains empty, but runs packed between Bhopal and Pune. Otherwise almost empty. Since no congestion, no traffic so pulled up before time in all the Stations. The train pulled up in Pune Junction, about 50 minutes before time. For rail fanning yes good..of course, would see the xing with the Rajdhani Specials bound to NZM. Broad daylight coverage of Jhansi, Gwalior, the S curve and Ghat section post Pune. So overall a pleasant experience. Would rate it 4/5.

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Train Tip
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5

Sep 15 2020 (12:58)   12314/New Delhi - Sealdah Rajdhani Express
Sourindra
Sourindra   15 blog posts
Entry# 4716146            Tags   Past Edits
I traveled in this train in December 2019 from New Delhi to Durgapur (round journey) in AC Two Tier (A3 coach). Definitely the infamous North Indian Fog delayed the UP train, thus leading the DN train to leave NDLS with a delay of 2 hours. Hence no complaint on this part. Evening snacks were provided but to my dismay it was totally worthless and was really of bad quality. No flask was provided, the attendant provided us the hot water in the cups directly, not to tell much of them already got cold in the meantime while he was distributing it. I ordered Non-Veg (Egg Curry), and yes the food was excellent, no doubt in that. I was provided with two Paratha, Rice, Mix Veg, Egg Curry and Dal. BTW Curd is provided only in Veg and Non Veg (Chicken). Jain Thali is also available, but one need to...
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ask when the caterer will come asking for the order. In Morning though, the bed tea was provided in appropriate manner in flask and all. They usually try to delay the breakfast and try to give it after Durgapur (because unlike Howrah Rajdhani which is preferred by the people from Kokata, this Rajdhani is specifically preferred by the people from Barrdhama, Birbhum and others|.) So if they try to delay it one must go and ask them directly, in that case they give you without any drama or anything. Breakfast was also very good, I have ordered Non-Veg (Omelette). And I was provided with Bead, Butter, Jam, Omelette, Burbon Chocolate and Tea Kit. One can ask them for extra breads and they usually provide it. Cleanliness was maintained up to the core, no doubt in that. The OBHS did a fantastic work in maintaining the coaches. Though the interiors were maintained extremely well but the exteriors of the coaches were really pathetic, it seems like they have never washed or cleaned the exterior. the train was delayed by 2 hours but it had a fantastic run and by the time it pulled up in Durgapur it was delayed by 1 hour 10 minute. In case of Rail-fanning, well the 2 hours delay came up like a boon to us. Trains like Poorva and Mahabodhi departed earlier to us but finally we overtook them in MPS, hence it was really a good experience. Since there was a delay hence got xing and OT with many trains which usually doesn't happen. So yes the rail fanning experience was excellent. So to sum up:

1) Food : 3.5/5
2) Cleanliness: 4.5/5
3) Security: 4.5/5
4) Punctuality: 3.5/5
5) Rail-Fanning: 4.5/5

Conclusion: Sealdah Rajdhani needs to work on its food, otherwise nice and pleasant experience.

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Travelogue
10874 views
6

Jan 04 2020 (11:58)   12314/New Delhi - Sealdah Rajdhani Express
Sourindra
Sourindra   15 blog posts
Entry# 4531284            Tags   Past Edits
Took 12314 Sealdah Rajdhani till Durgapur on 16 Dec 2019 in 3 AC. Firstly due to delayed arrival of the 12313 UP train, the subsequent DN train was delayed by 2 hours. But ultimately it left New Delhi at 1900 hours. I was looking forward to good service. But everything shattered when the evening snacks was given to us. Here I am uploading a pic of that evening snack. First of all the Sandwich is not there. Upon asking the serving staff told me that it was stopped long ago and along with it is the soup and the welcome drink. And the most weird thing which I observed was unlike other Rajdhani trains where the staff gives thermos for tea/coffee, here they came with tray full of glass with hot water. And not to tell many of the cups were already not so hot. But for morning bed tea, they...
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did provided us with the thermos..
Fast forward when for dinner I ordered Non Veg-Egg Curry. For the Dn train there are four options for dinner. Veg, Non Veg-Chicken, Non Veg-Egg and Jain Thali. The food provided was awesome and was of good standard quality. Atleast in this the standard was maintained.
Sealdah Rajdhani has quite a number of passengers boarding and de- boarding at Durgapur. Thus what they try to do is that they try to skip the breakfast for them. But the weird thing is that Railways charges the same catering charge for passenger of Durgapur and Sealdah, i.e Rs.245, and while for Asansol passenger it is Rs.175. But since the train was running late, they were forced to give the breakfast. But they gave it when the train was passing via Durgapur Coke Oven. For breakfast passenger have three options. Non Veg-Omelette, Non Veg-Boiled Egg and Veg Cutlet. In breakfast they provided us with Bread, Butter, Bourbon Chocolate, Omelette and Tea kit. The food quality was awesome.
I was in B7. The rake was Swarna Standard. But only for AC First Class and AC 2 Tier. The OBHS did a very good work, in short excellent in maintaining the cleanliness of the coach and the toilet. Meanwhile for using the lavatory I once went to the B8. Thanks god my seat wasn't there. That coach was old, rusty and least maintained. The worst were the lavatories.
Regarding running. The train was already late by 2 hours 35 minutes when it left NDLS. But since the train was already late, it wasn't able to capture the time it lost between NDLS and CNB. The same happened till Prayagraj(Allahabad). But from there to MGS and till Dhanbad, it was able to capture much of its time. When we were crossing Koderma, train was delayed by 1 hours 40 minutes. But thanks to poor controlling at Gomoh. We were again back on delay, but this time it was 2 hours 5 minutes. In between due to delay was able to takeover Poorva Express and Mahabodhi as well at MPS.
So if I have to rate at food, I will say it is 3/5. For cleanliness 4/5( For my coach) and for running it will be 4.5/5.

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Train Tip
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5

Jul 23 2019 (06:53)   12312/Netaji Express
Sourindra
Sourindra   15 blog posts
Entry# 4385510            Tags   Past Edits
Traveled from CDG to DGR
Cleanliness: Top notch cleanliness. Even before it got refurbished the cleanliness was good. (In AC Coaches). Hence would rate it 4/5.
Food: Try avoiding the PC food. My personal experience, too much costly against what they are actually offering. Rather go for e-catering, because at same price would get better deal. Apart from that for snacks, breakfast etc it is good, but try avoiding for Lunch and Dinner.
Punctuality:
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Quite a time take this train when could not get the Rajdhanis from New Delhi. Punctuality was worst for this train once. I personally have traveled both during winter and summer and my experience was really horrible. But recently everything has just changed to opposite. The punctuality of this train has increased to a lot. Now a much punctual train between Kalka and Howrah. But yes very unreliable during winter.
Security: Security is good. RPF, TTE and attendants are quite active. Once a off duty RPF sneaked inside the AC 3 coach by boasting as a Staff. The Attendant and the TTE forced him to sit outside and travel at the seat near the toilets.
Overall Experience: Good experience. Everything is good. If I have to choose in between Poorva and Kalka Mail, I would rather go for Kalka owing to its cleanliness and service. My personal opinion, different people have different opinion. But yes during winter quite unreliable, can even get late by more than 10 hours. So watch out for that during winters. Apart than that a very good train.

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