Inaugural running NJP Shatabdi honks at 110+ kmph with a deadly honking Piglet and roaring EOG!!
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A few firsts on the Inaugural run of this train!!!
The first Shatabdi Express in India...
more... to be hauled by an EMD for the entire journey.
The first train to be hauled by an EMD at 120- 130 km/hr.
The first inter- state Shatabdi of the country.
The first LHB train to use coaches manufactured by Rae Bareli Coach Factory.
The first LHB Shatabdi of ER and Eastern India.
40045 WDP- 4B of SGUJ shed honks with pride, and blasts past with glory with the inaugural running 12041 Howrah (HWH)- New Jalpaiguri (NJP) SHATABDI Express with brand new LHB coaches. This train would be the fastest connecting train between North Bengal and South Bengal, and would cover the 566 kms journey in 8 hours flat. The closest competitors for this train are the Darjeeling Mail, and Padatik Express, but those two trains take more than 10 hours. The train has been given an extremely aggressive schedule, where it have to maintain an average speed of 70 km/hr even after covering most of the journey through stretches where MPS varies between 90- 110 km/hr with numerous PSRs and TSRs.
The train will depart NJP at 05:35, and reach HWH at 13:35, and would again depart at 14:15, and reach NJP at 22:20. The train would give halts at Bolpur Shantiniketan, Malda Town and Kishanganj stations enroute, and is the first North Bengal- South bengal connecting train to skip Rampurhat.
Location is Begumpur on HB Chord enroute.
Givinge me company on the trip was railfans Rohit Basu, Sayantan Banerjee, Vikramjeet Maitra, Anubhav Bhattacharjee