এক রাজ্য, দুই রাণী।নাম তাদের, শালিমার ও আলিপুরদুয়ার রাজ্যরানী - Dip

In April first week 6 of our family (4 adults, 2 children) traveled by YESVANTPUR- HOWRAH DURONTO (#2246 / #2245) to Kolkata and back. The onward journey was by Sleeper class and return journey by AC 3T.
Travel Route: YPR – Arakkonam bye-pass (no halt) - Renigunta (RU) – Vijayawada (BZA) – Simhachalam North –Bhubaneswar (BBS) –HWH.
Technical Halts: 4 stations shown above, in both directions. #2246 has additional halt at Palasa (to load BF). Generally the halts are about 15 min., but it might vary. A single WAP4 engine pulls the...
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train, with crew changes enroute.
Departure/ Arrival: Both departures were on time. Arrival (2246 – PF No. 20) Howrah - on time; (2245) YPR – 55 Min. late (due to medical emergency enroute).
Cleanliness: Good service by maintenance crew.
Food on Board: (Cost of food is included in the ticket)
Water : 2 bottles of water per passenger provided enroute.
Sleeper Class
Meals (1.15 pm/ 8.15 pm) : Parota/Puri (alternate), Rice, sambar, Curd (Nestle) + Egg curry (NV)/ Veg Kurma or Paneer Butter (alternate).
BF (8 am) : Bread/ Butter + Cutlet (Veg)/ Omlette (NV).
Tea (4.30 pm/ 7 am): with biscuits
Overall food quality (SL class) – good. Veg. may be a better choice (we tried both).
AC 3T
Soup (12.30/ 7.30 pm) : soup with bread sticks & Amul butter
Meals : (2 pm/ 9 pm) Parota, Dal, Salad, Jeera Rice, Curd + chicken curry (NV)/ Paneer (Veg) + Icecream (1st day)/ Gulab Jamun (2nd day).
Tea/ snacks (5.30 pm): Sandwich, Kurkure, Haldiram laddu, tea/ coffee Tea/ coffee only (7am)
BF (8 am) : Idly, wada (Veg)/ Bread & butter with boiled egg (NV) + Mango juice + tea/ coffee.
Overall food quality (AC 3T) – Food feels heavy, because of soup, etc. Veg. may be a better choice (we tried both).
Newspaper on board: Onwards – newspaper provided both mornings.
Retun (2245) – newspaper once – at BZA.
Doctor on board: We noticed the Railway doctor on the return journey. At Renigunta there was an emergency- a patient on board developed complications. The train was halted at Renigunta for 1 hr 10 min. here.
Overall impression – excellent journey. Hassel-free journey because all passengers travel the full distance.
Note about transport at Howrah: Kolkata taxis (Ambassadors) take even 6 persons! In the city we found that even autos are able to carry 6 passengers, without any hassels!