The famous song from the movie ASHIRWAAD sung by Ashok Kumar still lingers in our heart...
Rail gaadi Rail gaadi. Chuk Chuk Chuk Chuk?Kooooo?Beech wale station bole Ruk Ruk Ruk .Ruk Ruk Ruk?...
This song with amazing lyrics describes a passenger?s journey as the train stops in-between at many stations till he reaches his destination.
This was truly the case of Passenger Train that was prevalent in early 50?s and 60?s. For a person travelling from Mumbai to Chennai, he had to spend nearly 50hrs on the train. Gone are the days as when people would be excited to see the giant engine hissing and steaming and letting out clouds of dark smoke (except for some trains which still run on steam in the hillstations).
But with the advent of technology and with paucity of time, steam engines gave way to electric and the diesel ones. As every ?second? counts, Indian Railways introduced new trains called the ?The Shatabdi Express??it was so named to commemorate the birth centenary of India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
Shatabdi Express are the SUPERFAST , INTERCITY TRAINS linking major cities in India. They certainly are not fast as the BULLET trains of Japan, but they do pretty good job of maintaining an average speed of 130km/hr without stopping at all the stations.. They make ur travel Quick, Comfortable, Relaxing and serve u mineral water, newspaper, snacks and meals too..This air-conditioned train has 2 classes of travel:
1.Air-conditioned Executive Chair Car.
2.Air-conditioned Chair Car
In the North, it runs on 2 routes-N. Delhi to Kanpur and N.Delhi to Bhopal
In the South, it runs on 2 routes-Chennai to Mysore via Bangalore and Chennai to Coimbatore.
The price of A/C chair car from Chennai to Bangalore is Rs530 and for the A/C Executive Chair Car is Rs 1075 .It leaves Chennai at 6 a.m to reach Bangalore at 11 a.m. and from B?lore it leaves at 4.30 p.m. to reach Chennai at 9.30 p.m.
Our to & fro trips from Chennai to Bangalore are always by Shatabdi.
?THEN?: Almost a decade back when I traveled by this train on the same route it was a NOVEL experience. For the first time I was sitting in an A/C Chair Car and it was mind-blowing. The push back Plush seats, Comfortable seating, dark colored windows with beautiful curtains, light music playing in the background, the exotic snacks, meals with soups and desserts, excellent service by the caterers and ofcourse toilet cleaners in every compartment. It was best in SERVICE AND CLEANLINESS.
?NOW?: When I travel, I have experienced many changes like the seats have become pretty old, curtains are no longer cleaner, not much has gone into its maintenance, sometimes the push-back buttons don?t work, the catering managed by IRCTC is just passé.
This one also Runs LATE Most of the times the food is not very good and the menu has not changed for years. Service is sometimes fast otherwise they take their own time. Music is hardly there. The toilet cleaners are missing and the stench emanating from the toilets is at times unbearable. Of course the passengers have to be blamed for not having the civic sense of keeping it clean .So one has to put up with this filth for nearly 5 hrs of journey.
Inspite of all these drawbacks (which I hope will be corrected in the near future ), I still consider it as the besttrain to travel .
Shatabdi will soon have the new features like:
1.On-line booking, which is so far available for other trains.
2.The speed is going to increase at 150km/hr.
3.Passengers can access Internet, courtesy Intel.
Travelling by Shatabdi is indeed joyful if u are willing to travel light, as the luggage space is limited to the shelves above ur seat.
HAPPY JOURNEY!!!