THE DOUBLE DECKER FLOP SHOW
Prided myself on being the first IRI member to report on a journey by the DD Express STD HWH at 8.30 am today. Reached HWH at 7.45 am and met our admin AnandNambyar, presently caming at SAMPATH RAIL YATRI NIVAS, at the New Complex. Proceeded with him to PF11 at the Old Complex. Bought the customary RAIL NEER and The Telegraph newspaper. Anand and I had a cup of tea each for the princely sum of Rs. 3 each in the earthern pot (also called, bhand, khullar or matka depending on which part of the country you come from). We were both standing on the platform indulging in our favourite passion of railfanning.
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rake composition of the train was WAP7 WHITIE Howrah shed numbered 30305-LBG-C1 to C7-LBG.
Occupancy levels in each coach was C1/128/128/0, C2/128/115/13, C3/128/88/40, C4/128/0/128#,C5/128/128/0,C6/128/114/14,C7128/128 /0.
For each coach, the first numerical refers to the capacity, the second to the number of VACANT SEATS and the third to the numbered of RESERVED SEATS as displayed on the chart.
# For C4, the actual number of passengers whose names figured on the charts was only 47, the remaining 81 representing OUTSTATION QUOTA of which we were unable to ascertain the number of confirmed bookings.
Therefore, out of a capacity of 7x128=896, the number of names displayed on the chart was only 114, with the capacity utilisation ex-HWH being app 13%.
Which name would you prefer SNOW WHITE ELEPHANT or MILK WHITE ELEPHANT ?
While the coaches manufactured by ICF, Kapurthala, were slick and beautiful the toilets appeared spick and span.Understandably, because they were HARDLY USED like some people's BRAINS. Lot of PC guys were moving around with tea/coffee and breakfast was kept stored n the pantries. The layout of the fully AC coaches was as under:-
LOWER DECK* (GROUND FLOOR or BASEMENT) Seats 7 to 60
MIDDLE DECK* (MEZZANINE FLOOR) Seats 1 to 6 on Pantry Side and 61 to 74 on non-Pantry Side
UPPER DECK*(1ST FLOOR) 75 to 128.
The side panel adjacent to each window seat was provided with a charging point.
* indicates official railway terminology while what you observe in brackets is my own nomenclature (to be contd...)