As I heard many bad things about 12302 , I decided to travel from NDLS-HWH. On 28th Jul I did a detailed study about Kolkata Rajdhani(GAYA) by asking things to attendants , Pantry staff , Loco Pilots , Cleaning staffs etc. Here is what I got for you.
View of train at NDLS
1)At NDLS the train was pulled in 30 Mins before Dep and was clean and charming too.
2)...
more... The loco was HWH WAP 7 30203.
Asking questions to staffs of the train.
Pilot-
1) I asked Pilot that "what kind of response you guys get while you move through different zones with HWH Raj "which was answered as that all the zones treat well and make way for it and try the best to keep the speed up.
2)Second question was that "do you obey the restriction of 130 Kmph very strictly?" which was answered that upto 135 Kmph can be bumped to make up the delay.
Pantry staff-
1)"What are the arrangements for cooking food for passengers daily?" which was answered that only 1A food is cooked by ER staff and 2A,3A food always come packed from Delhi which cannot be interfered by ER staff.
2) He also said" one would find huge difference in food of 12302 and 12301 because of the way of making food in bengali style in HWH and Punjabi style in NDLS."
Attendants-
1)"What do you do with used bed sheets and blankets" which was answered as that they just collect from passengers and hand it over to laundries in NDLS and HWH and train staff has no control over it and they just get the bed roll and provide it to passengers.
Cleaning Staff-
1) "what is told to you to do while the journey?" which was answered that he has to ,mop,freshen the coach in frequent times.
Pros-
1) Train was super clean and cleaning staff cleaned it in very 1:30 hrs and room fresheners were regular.
2) Food was good enough to enjoy.
3) Staff was too well behaved.
4)No one was allowed to open the doors while the train is moving.
5)Constant speed of 130 was attained all the time which i superb because the trains like BPL shatabdi has 150 kmph restriction but constantly it keeps 130-140 kmph but HWH kept its top most speed constant.
6) Toilets were not only clean but they were dry too.
7) WiFi was good according to me because it provides the required speed to use social networking and little browsing on the go not bulk downloads the best part was u wont loose networks like 2G,3G. :)
Cons-
1) Concept of garbage collection of staff was not good because they told us to keep the wrappers and all on the floor which they will collect. Till the point of time when they collect it looked very dirty.
2) It got a little late between MGS-DHN.
Abnormal and amazing things that happened-
1) Bang on time upto GAYA was delayed upto 50 mins upto DHN.
2) Stopped at DGR for 3 mins while it skipped ASN and BWN :P
3) Purvanchal overtook it at DGR and an EMU at GRAE but later both were thrashed very badly by the king.
4) Most amazing thing of the trip it banged over 130 kmph restrictions in ASN-HWH to make up delay and skipped Khana Jn at 136 Kmph. Ya you saw it right 136 :)
Verdict - It still is a King but very few conceptual developments are required and full authority to ER staff should be given for train requirements at NDLS too to make it the undisputed King.
