Kolkata By Sealdah Rajdhani Express - Part I

May 05, 2009

What a day! I couldn't sleep the whole night and the morning started off with me running around to get clothes pressed, keep veggies at the neighbors house etc and suddenly it was 1500pm. Time to start for NDLS. All packed and ready, we boarded a taxi and reached NDLS at 1554pm. I had not seen the Ajmeri Gate entrance in a long while and hence, I was surprised not to find any crowd at the gates. Then I realized that they had moved the ticket counters and the Digital departure and arrival boards upstairs. Climbed up the stairs and checked the departure of the 2314 Sealdah Rajdhani. This time around I couldn't find berths in 2AC so I had to be content traveling by 3AC.

There was an announcement and the Sealdah Rajdhani was shifted from Platform 12 to Platform 13. 13? I wondered if my lucky number was ever going to bring me any luck. I reached the platform and didn't have to wait too long as a newly painted GZB WAP-7 #30236 glided smoothly bringing in the LHB rakes of the Rajdhani Express.



LHB (Linke Hofmann Bosch) rakes were first introduced in the Indian Railways on February 03, 2006 and the Sealdah Rajdhani got its LHB rakes on March 01, 2003. The LHB rakes are now being built at Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala and are the fruits of the collaboration between Indian Railways and ALSTOM-LHB GmbH, Germany. Today, LHB rakes are being predominantly used in Rajdhani and Shatabdi although the 4645 Shalimar Express also s them. The Shalimar Express runs from NDLS (New Delhi) to JAT (Jammu Tawi).

Back to my journey, I had 4 berths in B10, which was the 7th from the loco. I thought maybe, I might get to catch the Raj at some of the curves.



While waiting for the Rajdhani Express to start moving, I came across a dirty CNB WAP-4 #22235, which brought in the rakes of 2560 Shiv Ganga Express to Varanasi.



Finally, the signal went from red to green and we started of at 1630pm, bang on time but then the inevitable happenned. Everytime, I travel by Sealdah Rajdhani, there is a chain pulling incident. So between NDLS and Shivaji Bridge, the chain was pulled twice because someone's luggage had fallen off. While we were waiting for confirmation and clearance at Shivaji Bridge, I started a conversation with Mr. P. Chakraborty, who was the Air-conditioning engineer of our coach. I had met him the last time around as well in January 2009. He told me that one of the guys traveling in our coach had given his ticket to the coolie by mistake. It's wierd but I guess shit really happens!

I took a couple of snaps of the LHB rakes of the sealdah Rajdhani express. A LDH (Ludhiana) WDM-3C #16879 passed us by. It was running light and didn't have the number written on the side of the loco like most WDM's have. It went a little ahead and stopped as the LP (Loco Pilot) exchanged pleasantries and information with the LP of TKD (Tughlakabad) WDP-3a #15513. (Another "13"). The WDP was bringing in another LDH WDM #16884. Once it started from Shivaji Bridge, it was already running 30 minutes late.


The WAP-7 picked up speed and I opened the door of my coach to wave out to Mr. Vishvanathan who was waiting patiently for me at Anand Vihar. We whizzed passed and slowed down on reaching the Sahibabad curve. This is where I saw GZB WAP-1 #22036 rush past with an unknown train. By the time, I took out my camera, the loco had dissappeared with the train. Well! It was good to see a WAP-1 because that is my favorite loco apart from WDP-4. We reached GZB at 17:28pm and I saw a couple of WAG-7, WAG-5, and WAG-9 pulling coal rakes. Saw a LGD (Lallaguda) WAG-9 #31135 and GMO (Gomoh) WAP-7 #30203 at the Aligarh Jn.

One of the surprising points of this journey was that we were not offered any Frooti, juice, cadbury, and Sonpapdi. On top of that, the hot water for tea barely filled half a cup. That is some cost cutting Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav - No wonder you lost!!We reached Tundla Jn at 19:20pm and I saw one of my favorite loco's: a WAG-7 in a WAP-4 shell and this one was #28000. Yipee!! The 5708 Amrapali Express (Amritsar to Katihar) was waiting for a green signal and it was being hauled by CNB WAP-4 #22227. The moment we crossed Tundla Jn, I came across another WAG-7 and this time the number was 28009.

We reached Kanpur (CNB) at 21:20pm, bang on time. So the Wap-7 had actually covered up for a 15-minute delay. We were served dinner. My sister had ordered continental, while I had opted for a non-veg meal. The continental was far better although the quantity of noodles was barely fulfilling. My meal wasn't great either because the parantha was cold and the chicken curry tasted stale. Seems like the Sealdah Rajdhani food has taken a real beating. In fact, the food was being made by a private caterer called: meals on wheels!





























The moment we left Kanpur, the inevitable happened again - chain pulling!!!! When will travelers learn! Someone was supposed to get down at Kanpur and had slept off. Good lord! The train picked up speed after Kanpur and after having a strange mix of vanilla and strawberry ice-cream, I just dozed off. I was on the top berth and the airconditioning was quite comforting.

The only uncomfortable part was the constant jerk. When the loco braked, there was a huge jerk and when the loco pulled, there was a major jerk. Mr. Chakraborty told me that since LHB coaches don't have buffers hence this problem. But then when I went to Kolkata in January with a WAP-4 pulling the Rajdhani, there were no jerks. Will need to ask some railway engineers or maybe loco pilots. Another uncomfortable aspect of the LHB coaches is the stairs for climbing up. My father fell down once and I also had a problem because there was nothing to hold on to if you are climbing face forward towards the upper berth.

Hope the engineers in Patiala are listening!