Demands and wishes of Jamalpur/Bhagalpur....

DRM office at JMP or BGP...
E-loco shed at JMP

Trains:-...
more...

Jamalpur- Vasco-Di-Gama Superfast Express
Jamalpur-Puri Express
Jamalpur- Rampurhat Intercity Express
Jamalpur- Katihar Intercity Express

Bhagalpur-Pune Superfast Express
Bhagalpur- Varanasi Express via Gaya
Bhagalpur- Jabalpur/Bhopal Express
Bhagalpur- Amritsar Express

Suggest more services.....

I took this train recently for traveling upto JSME/Jasidih. I had originally taken it once from Ayodhya to Asansol in winters when it got late by ~4 hrs. But that was in 3A and I was impressed by the on board cleanliness then. This time, I was supposed to be let down. Let's start, shall we.

I went to Babhnan station to catch the BTT/GKP-AY Passenger for MUR. I could have caught GD-ASN train from either MUR or AY but I chose MUR this time. And what a surprise this Ayodhya bound...
more...

passenger gave me. Only few months ago, I could easily get a window seat in this train from any intervening station. Now, there was no place even to stand. [To make it worse, a passenger was snoring on his bench as if he owned the seat.] I guess the extension to Bhatni and inauguration of Ram Temple has helped this train to get traction. IR should have given it a longer rake instead of this pitiful EMU thing that is both short [ I am not sure, but this is definitely not longer than the previous version and SHORTER than GKP-GD passenger which sees lesser crowd] and slow [mps restricted to 100 kph whilst the route can handle 110 kph upto MUR]. Anyways, we were looped twice for overtaking by special trains which ironically had mostly empty SL coaches. We reached MUR late but hardly few folks deboarded meaning most were meant for Ayodhya only.

Our train came ~30 mins late. We had reservation this time in SL class. This train has loco reversal 3 times. I do not know why it doesn't go straight via GKP. The route length might be the same but it'll easily shave off 1+ hour that these LR's require. I ventured into the lone newly added 2A coach[it wasn't there when I traveled last in it] to see how crowded it was. Yeah, Aryabhatta invented 0 just to define the nos of pax traveling in it. The coach remained quite sparsely occupied and I footplated upto Ayodhya. Saw a student[likely] who spat right into the middle of the standing area near the door. So much for education!

Ayodhya still has lots of work to be done. Even the Station Boards weren't erected at PF 2/3. Only 1 functioning shop was there. I got a side lower seat which wasn't occupied until Azamgarh lately. Saw Shahganj where the train again has an LR. Exchanged my upper seat in exchange for a lower berth since someone asked for it. Turns out I shouldn't have done it. We should remain selfish and only look for our self interest. It shouldn't matter to us whether half a dozen members of a family are scattered halfway across the coach and they need our help or not. Because that guy's reservation was only upto some station in Bihar[ he didn't tell me this before hand] which came in dead of the night. I had to come back to my original berth 3 coaches away by which I had lost my sleep. I hated myself so much for giving under pressure.

Anyways, morning came and half dozing, I got a window seat and the tracks rolled by Jhajha and ultimately JSME came at more/less the same time.

Rajdhani Express completes 55 years of services , still being a superior category, for several reasons. From passengers' point of view, all of us are aware of the specialities. The specialties from Operational point of view, are briefed, except for sensitive infos:

• Starting from the basic maintainance, the Rajdhani Express has its very own Rajdhani section with staffs (image attached)
• Usually...
more...

a single loco is nominated for normal coaching trains, but Rajdhani has two nominations (image attached) .
• The train is never mislinked with other zone locos from Howrah, dedicated Howrah shed Medha locos are considered reliable enough.
• In real time running, even Vande Bharat trains do not enjoy such priority & attention over ER.
• Some call it as ' রেল বোর্ডের গাড়ি ' meaning the train of rail board. Every train of IR is under Rail Board, but some Rajdhanis are directly observed by Board.
• Any man/machine error in the section should be cleared before Rajdhani's passing. Several times observed Vande Bharat/Shatabdi suffering from such errors, but Rajdhani rarely suffers.
• Minute delays can invite showcause/chargesheet/suspension to/of the concerned official/staff responsible for the detention

• Recent incidents: Date- 6th Jan 2024 at MSAE

An emergency was notified by SM/MSAE at around 16:35 that signals of Delhi end was not responding & panel board is malfunctioning. Visually, the signals were not showing any aspect.

During investigation after few hours, it was found that JCB operator was careless enough to chop off the OFC of MSAE station section while working over Bankura connection project. After initial formalities, TrnNo.12345 was started from JRAE at 17:15. Rajdhani Express suffered detention for 120+ minutes being stuck behind 3 EMUs.

All trains had to be received/dispatched by paper clearance [specifically, T369 (3a) for Home signal & T369 (3b) for Starter signal ... image attached] . Divisional signal inspector & others rushed to spot from Howrah by road. Problem rectified after 02:00 AM.

Sectional Signal inspector was issued chargesheet in this case.

• There are other incidents too, where a L/c gate couldn't be closed due to traffic, and Rajdhani had to stop for 3 minutes. The gate keeper was served showcause notice & asked to report at DRM office next day.

• Most of us are aware of Baruipara incident of 2302 with 30201/GMO WAP7 (then) which resulted in initial transfers of WAP7 fleet from Gomoh shed.

Rajdhani still continues to be the most important category & service, inspite of introduction of so many categories over Indian Railways.

BLAST FROM THE PAST!!
EAST BENGAL RAILWAY MAP 1911

So many things changed!!
For ex: Trains from Guwahati to Delhi used to run via Parbatipur(Bangladesh), Raiganj, Barsoi Katihar😱😱 from north bank of Brahmaputra river....
more...

South Bank of Brahmaputra was used for Other trains to Northeast

Siliguri, Kishanganj, Alipurduar, Coochbehar were terminals. only few trains originated from these.

Siliguri Calcutta line passing through Malda, Lalgola, Azimganj & few areas of Bangladesh. Siliguri line used to cut from Ranaghat.

An alternative line was made from Howrah to Delhi via Nalhati, Pakur, Barharwa, Bhagalpur , Jamalpur, Patna , Ara , Buxar, Mughalsarai

WHOLE EAST INDIA WAS METRE GAUGE, BROAD GAUGE AVAILABLE ONLY FROM HOWRAH TO GAYA😱😱🤯🤯