Freshly POH'ed VCD fitted WAP-4 hauling Jalianwala Bagh SF thunders through Kamarkundu
.
.
Freshly POHed and stunning looking VCD fitted 22332 WAP- 4 of HWH shed comes charging through the Up main line of HB Chord enroute with the 12379 Sealdah (SDAH)- Amritsar (ASR) Weekly JALLIANWALA BAGH Superfast Express. Location is the two level Kamarkundu station. While the ground level platforms fall...
more... on the Chord line, the Upper level platforms fall on the Arambagh- Tarakeshwar- Seoraphuli- Howrah line.
This is my favourite non-elite (Shatabdi/ Rajdhani/ Duronto/ Garib Rath) train, and is the second best train (among 5 trains) to travel between these two cities. The train has only 10 halts (9 in the Up direction) and a couple of technical halts (at an average of one halt after every 31 stations) and takes less than 31 hours to cover almost 2000 kms (at an average of one halt after every 211 kms). The coaches are very well maintained, and is one of the very few trains in IR to have OBHS (On Board Housekeeping Service) facility. Pantry is available, and food quality, quantity and variety is simply mind blowing.. Veg Meal, Egg Meal, Fish Meal, Chicken Meal, Chicken Biryani, Egg Biryani, Paneer Biryani, South Indian food, Punjabi food, Egg Noodles, Chicken Noodles, Chicken Fried Rice, Veg Pulao and numerous other foods are available from the pantry along with the foods offered by the vendors (have personally experienced during my journey a few months back). The HCPV gets detached at Delhi, where the train halts for 50 minutes.
One unique thing about this train is that the train does not have an exclusive name.. The display boards show the name as JALIANWALA BAGH Express (but another Jalianwala Bagh Express runs between Amritsar and Tatanagar), official IR site shows the name as W.B. Sampark Kranti Express (but another W.B.S.K. runs between Sealdah and Old Delhi Junction), and in most of the stations, the announcement is made as simple Amritsar- Sealdah Superfast Express. So three names for a single train!!
The train follows the Amritsar- Jalandhar- Ludhiana- Ambala- Old Delhi- Kanpur- Allahabad- Mughal Sarai- Gaya- Dhanbad- Asansol- Burdwan- Sealdah route.
On Board Housekeeping Services (OBHS) scheme has been envisaged in all Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto and important long distance Mail/Express trains for frequent cleaning of toilets, doorways, aisles and passenger compartments during the run of the trains.
The scheme has so far been introduced in 110 pairs of trains on Indian Railways. Another 280 pairs of trains have been identified for introduction of this scheme.