KOLKATA: Few seats in the Chair Car (CC) section of the new Vande Bharat Express from Howrah to New Jalpaiguri (NJP) were spotted empty. During the first ride, passengers complained of food quality and hygiene.
According to the IRCTC application, apart from Tuesday, seats are available for the rest of the week for the CC section.
No tickets were available for Tuesday while 155 seats were available on Thursday, 423 seats on Friday, 574 seats on Saturday and 497 seats on Sunday, as per the IRCTC details on Monday.
On the other hand, the seats for Executive Chair Car (EC) had been mostly sold out.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the train from Howrah has been running with a waiting list of two and nine respectively.
The Vande Bharat Express was virtually inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 30.
The semi-high speed train, according to railways, can reach NJP from Howrah in seven-and-a-half hours which is an hour less than the time taken by Shatabdi Express, which takes eight-and-a-half hours.
The train departs from Howrah station at 5:55 am and reaches NJP at around 1:25 pm. From NJP, it departs at 3:05 pm and reaches Howrah at 10: 35 pm.
According to a senior Railway official, the period between January to March 15 in Railways is called limp season; however compared to the usual, the demand has exceeded the expectations.
Apart from this, the passengers on the first day had complaints about the food quality in the
semi-high speed train which boasts of providing the best facility to the passengers.
The Eastern Railway CPRO Ekalabya Chakraborty said: "The complaint was that the rice was not warm. I have personally spoken with
IRCTC on the issue and proper arrangement of hot cases have been made. It was no longer a problem in the train which departed
on Monday."