ER celebrates 50 yrs of Rajdhani Express

Kolkata: Nostalgia gripped the passengers of Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express on Sunday, as they arrived at the old platform of Howrah station to board the golden girl of Indian railways which completed 50 years of its service.

While celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the train, General Manager Harindra Rao announced that all the train coaches of Eastern Railway are set to get bio-toilets which will help in keeping the tracks clean.

"We have planned to construct two laundries in Tikiapara and Chitpur, from where we can get our fresh supply of linen as 40 percent of the linen comes from outside. So once we get these laundries, we will be able to reduce the number of complaints that we receive about the lack of maintenance in the trains. The tender has been floated for these laundries and construction will begin soon," said Rao.

On March 6, 1969, the first Rajdhani Express had chugged off from the old platform of Howrah station after driver G L Tocher set the train in motion, following the waving of the green flag by guard S O Levy. At that particular moment, the iconic red Rajdhani Express became the country's first superfast, fully air-conditioned express train, which covered the 1,445 km distance between Howrah and New Delhi in 17 hours and 20 minutes.

To commemorate the special occasion, Eastern Railway decided to pamper its passengers who were travelling to New Delhi on Sunday, by providing them brand new linens and disposable napkins which bore greetings for the day.

Apart from the cake cutting ceremony at the platform before their journey, the

passengers also had a special menu designated for their journey.

While releasing a greeting stamp to commemorate the occasion, Rao said: "A lot of changes have occurred since the inception of the Rajdhani Express. There have been changes in its frequency, looks, speed, the comfort level of its passengers and others."

Subodh Chandra Ghosh, the chief catering inspector of Howrah Rajdhani who had served during its maiden journey, said: "The first Rajdhani Express had nine coaches – five chair cars, one first class coach, one dining car and two coaches carrying huge generator sets to keep the air-conditioning working. At that time, it was considered to be just for the elite class as only VIPs used to travel in the train and the price of a single chair car ticket was Rs 300 and for AC first class, it was around Rs 2,000. But we were always fully packed with passengers."

"Even now when the prices of the tickets have increased and often, the cost of a flight ticket is less than the cost of a first class ticket, passengers

still prefer the Rajdhani as it provides the ultimate comfort and has an iconic stature,"

he added.