Putting my observations of my journey in Solapur Vande Bharat express from Pune to Solapur, on 19 Feb, Sunday.

1. SUR VB was on dot arrival at pune. Many pax travelling from Mumbai deboarded here & lesser numbers boarded from pune.
2. My coach was C-14, last bogie. It was bright n white. Wide spaces given near door & inside the coach....
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3. Seats were thick, but I somehow felt that it was not contouring the body properly. Maybe my seat being the centre/table seat, was not able to rest my legs properly (like the behind seats have footrest). I tried shifting up n down, but was uncomfortable.
4. Display, announcements was proper. Speed was continuously being displayed alongwith distance to the next destination. I kinda liked that.
5. There was only 1 lavatory in that coach. It was huge & all the good things stop there only. The door closing system of the lavatory is very weird. One is left wondering whether the door is indeed shut or not. You may be relieving yourself & somebody opens the door. The staff showed how to close it & I closed it, but a small gap of approx 1 inch remains open. The wash basin though big, has actually small operational area due to mirror. So, water has to spill outside. Stupid setup.
6. The catering service was bad. Despite me telling the catering person to give bottle of water during start (as I was thirsty), it was not given till 30 min. I had to scold them in front of people, then did I got water.
7. Dinner was served & the quantity was sufficient. It was chapati, paneer sabzi, dal, rice, curd & ice cream. The food charge while booking ticket is shown as Rs.242/-. Now that I feel is exorbitant.
8. Ice cream was given immediately after serving dinner plates. By the time I finished dinner & took ice cream, it was half way melted. Now, what kind of service is this in a premium train?
9. Lastly, the most important thing. The train slowed down many times & stopped at Solapur outer for about 11-12 min. Express trains seem to be better. If VB is really fast, then to hell with my observations, but VB is very slow. My train got late by approx 15 mins. VB should actually be fast. No use if its 10/15 mins earlier.
10. In its current status, SUR VB is hogwash. It’s not worth it.