I returned to Howrah from Haridwar on 26/10/12 by 12370 Haridwar-Howrah Kumbha Superfast Express. I am posting this trip report to share the experience of my journey on board this train. The scheduled time of departure from Haridwar was 2355hrs. We reached Haridwar station at 2230hrs to board the train. Haridwar station doesnot have a very large space and was quite crowded at that time. We went to the main terminal to board the train, but the departure display screen showed that the train was to leave from platform no. 8. I did not have any idea that there was any platform no. 8 at Haridwar station. I also could not find that platform in the main terminal. On asking the station authorities, I came to know that Platform no. 8 is in the new terminal. The new terminal building at Haridwar is situated to the left of the old terminal...
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(if you face the old terminal) and houses platforms 7, 8 and 9. We entered the new terminal and found that our train was already standing at the platform. Our coach A1 was near the front end of the train and so we had to walk all the way down the platform to our coach. The rake was quite a small one and that day it was running with two extra coaches- 1 Sleeper and 1 AC 3 Tier in addition to the other coaches to tackle the puja rush. I found out that the train has RSA with 12327/28 HWH-DDN Upasana Express, which was evident from the nameboard. Our coach was a 1994 built coach; though quite old, but still clean and well maintained. The toilets were also clean and liquid soap was also provided in the lavatories. I went out to check the loco link and found that HWH WDM3A 18996 was to pull the train to Howrah. At 2355hrs, the locopilot sounded the whistle and the train started. I was quite tired and went to sleep; so I could not make out the timings at which we reached Moradabad and Bareilly. I woke up early in the morning at around 0600hrs and found that the train had made an unscheduled halt at Shahjahanpur, which was followed by another such halt at Roza jn. at 0635hrs. This was followed by a long run at good speeds of above 80 kmph which a few slowdowns in between. We did not get any food or tea in the train till we reached Lucknow at 0920hrs. At Lucknow, the IRCTC vendors entered the coach to sell cakes/eggs/toast/tea for breakfast. I got down from the coach a bought a copy of a newspaper. To my surprise, I saw that the train staff were washing all the window panes of the AC coaches with soap and water and wiping them clean. Since we had brought food with us, we however did not buy any food from the vendors apart from tea @ Rs. 5 per cup. The main problem with this train is that it doesnot have a pantry car and so you have to wait till the train reaches a station so that you can buy food from the IRCTC vendors. After leaving Lucknow, we reached the next stop, Sultanpur at 1124hrs. From Sultanpur, the IRCTC staff got into the coaches with lunch, the options being veg, or, egg. I chose the veg meal. It cost me Rs. 60 per meal; the price was not according to the standard IRCTC charge and the food was just horrible. There was dal, rice, 1 pickle sachet and a mixed curry. The rice was quite hard, the dal was tasteless and watery; as for the curry, it was hot with chillies and consisted of a few small pieces of vegetables in a watery gravy. I just managed to take the rice with a little dal. Next, we reached Varanasi at 1330 hrs, followed by Mughal Sarai at 1445 hrs after a long halt at Varanasi. I took some sleep and woke up at 1844 hrs as the train entered Patna Jn., almost an hour late. The vendors who came in were selling samosas and tea. After leaving Patna, the train made an unscheduled halt at Patna Saheb for over 15 minutes. We reached Kiul at 2110 hrs, followed by Jhajha at 2236hrs and Jasidih at 2322 hrs. Dinner was also sold, but I didnot buy any food, remebering my experience with lunch. I ate a few apples which I had brought along from Haridwar. By now, the train was running more than an hour late. However, i went to sleep and could not follow the timings at which the train reached Madhupur and Asansol. At 0330 hrs, I woke up and looked outside the window. I could understand that the train was moving very fast but could not understand the names of the stations passing by. I thought that we perhaps have not reached Burdwan yet, since the train was running late. But, to my surprise, I saw that the train slowed down and it was passing Dankuni. All the people were asleep then. Eventually, we reached Howrah at 0345hrs on 28/10/12, half an hour behind schedule.
A very important thing to note is that the lavatories were cleaned many a time by the staff and the coach too was cleaned thrice during the journey and deodorizers/insecticides were also sprayed after each clean up.
Picture: Coach A1 at Varanasi