The First Run of Sealdah Duronto Express

New Delhi | 19 Sep 09

I have been looking forward to this moment. Being a staunch Rajdhani Express fan (have been traveling since 1979 on Howrah Raj), I wanted to see first hand how different the Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto Express will be.

The first Duronto Express was flagged off by Smt. Mamata Banerjee (Honorable Railway Minister) from Sealdah Station (Kolkata) at 1700 pm on September 18, 2009. The 2259 Sealdah Duronto is India's first point-to-point non-stop train and has been created to cover the distance of 1454km from Sealdah to New Delhi in 16h 20min. The Sealdah Rajdhani takes 17h 55min with 6 halts.

Well! I was hugely disappointed. The SDAH Duronto arrived at Pragati Maidan at 0945 am. The right time for reaching NDLS (New Delhi Railway Station) was 0920 am. But more than that it was the color and graffiti/painting on the rakes that was far more disappointing.

In fact, if Mamata Di and the "big-wigs" of Indian Railway could launch the fastest train in India then they should have considered the visual impact of the rakes. The green is similar to that of Garib Rath, a trifle bit lighter and the entire floral design is way out of place. IR could have either chosen a more formal look and appeal for enhancing the image of the train OR they could have added more value by having separate paintings on each of the rakes. Paintings depicting different faces of Bengal like Howrah Bridge, Dakhineshwar Temple, Ma Durga, Eden Gardens and much more. That would have at least symbolized the "Cultural Spirit of Bengal"

But I would still say that the effort was valiant keeping in mind the fact that Mamata Di had very little time to get this train up and running. Her concept of "Ma, Mati, Manush" is the theme of the abstract graffiti on Sealdah Duronto. Maybe, the later versions of the Sealdah Duronto will have graffiti that people can relate to with ease.

Secondly, the rakes are quite old. In fact some of the coaches are almost 10 years old (1999). Seems like the rakes are a mix of Garib Rath and ICF Rajdhani coaches. At first instant the rake didn't look Hybrid to me but the next time around I will have a closer look.

The SMB (Side Middle Berth) has been used in the 3AC Economy and hence the lower fares. The SMB is not a great idea because it means less space.

Overall Picture - Not Impressive!

A Fare comparison with Sealdah Rajdhani

Duranto Sealdah Raj Difference
1AC 3295 3395 Rs. 100
2AC 1880 2030 Rs. 150
3AC 1390 1535 Rs. 145
3AC Eco 1335 NA

The Sealdah Rajdhani Express Runs daily while the Duronto will run on Thursday and Sunday from Sealdah (2259) and Friday and Monday from New Delhi (2260).

The rake composition of the 2259 Duronto Express as seen today was: EOG | 3AC Eco | 3AC | PC | 2 AC | 1 AC | EOG

The Sealdah Duronto Express timings are:

2259 - DEP/SDAH: 1640 PM ARR/NDLS: 1035 AM
2260 - DEP/NDLS: 2005 PM ARR/SDAH: 1100 AM

Except for a technical snag in the loco GZB WAP-7 30249 (fairly new loco), I believe the run was smooth. The P7 30249 started off from SDAH with its front Panto up but was spotted at Pragati Maidan with its rear Panto up. Hopefully, the snag has been taken care off.

Look forward to the Chennai Duronto at NZM (Nizamuddin) on Tuesday with LHB rake!

Some of the other trains/Loco that I saw today include:

GZB WAP-7 #30248 - Mumbai Rajdhani (On Time)
BSL WAM-4 #21388 - Unknown Train
UDL WDG-3A #13379 - AC Special
LGD WAP-4 #22777 - AP Express (On Time)
SGUJ WDP-4 #20003 - Kashi Vishwanath Exp
GZB WAP-7 #30249 - Duronto Express (30 min Late)
GMO WAP-7 #30203 - Howrah Rajdhani (10 min late)
HWH WAP-4 #22331 - Sealdah Rajdhani (Before Time)

Parthajit Dasgupta

An Empty New Delhi Station

New Delhi Station was absolutely empty at 0500 PM! Now thats news! I went to NDLS today to drop my cousin who was traveling to Secunderabad on AP Express scheduled for departure at 0535 pm. I reached NDLS (Ajmeri Gate) at 0500pm and it was announced that the AP Express has been brought in at Platform 4, which is quite a long way of from Ajmeri Gate.

No platform tickets were available from 04 dec to 31 dec. I wasn't aware of it but then it struck me that I could pick up an EMU ticket to Shivaji Bridge and walk down from NDLS. I might be able to catch some locos as well. Well! the railway guys didn't have change on them and so I had to pick up 2 platform tickets for Ghaziabad (Rs. 10/-). Once I was at platform 4, my cousins coach A2 was just under the FB (foot bridge), so it was an easy walk. My cousin was carrying an over loaded suitcase of books and clothes.

The A2 coach of AP Express looked quite neat and clean and had a fresh coat of yellow paint on the inside. The Loo was neat and clean rubber mats just under the sink. Once my cousin was aboard, I left to check the loco and it was the Lalguda (LGD) WAP 4 - 22322.

This WAP4 has had the distinction of pulling East Coast Express and Coromandel Express to Howrah on quite a few occassions. I politely asked the pilot if I could take a picture of him and the loco and with a smile on his face, he replied with a polite "No".

So I moved on from Platform 4 towards Shivaji bridge. Now here's the strange part. I saw Gomti Express standing on Platform 5 for departure and guess which loco did the honors? An ED (Erode) Wappie! The ED WAP4 22654 is a total offlink but I guess the winter delays are causing quite a few off linkers to work overtime :)

NDLS was quite empty in terms of people and trains (must be the delays!!). The only other train was on Platform 10 and it was the Shiv Ganga Express with CNB (Kanpur) WAP 4 22282. The only other locos were the WDS happily doing their job of shunting trains in and out. There was a train in the yard with IC AC coaches and an LHB Rajdhani coach bang in the middle. I couldn't see the name or number.

Since there were no trains in sight except for the ASR-Saharsa Garibrath, which came in with a LDH WDM-2 17483; I decide to walk down from NDLS to Shivaji bridge. It was a nice walk and the sunset just added more color to everything around me. On the way, I met Mr. Vishwanathan, an elderly gentleman who is also into railfanning. After exchanging pleasantries and talking about IR, we parted ways. It took me not more than 10 mins to walk down and yes, I also had the opportunity to take a picture of the traffic below from the Minto Railway Bridge.

So that was all the railfanning I could do thanks to the trains running late by hours and some by even a day!

You can check some of the low-res pics at: Indian Railways