RailFans - we wander, but never get lost - Shaurya Kumar

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...
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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.