Feeling bored in the Train - talk to a RailFan. You'll WISH the train gets late.

DOJ: 30th March 2023
After coming from Varanasi Vande Bharat Trip a night before /blog/post/5748341 had to board Executive Class of this beauty for Office Work Trip, tickets made by Company only.
WCR is bad at this and has TOO MUCH to learn from NR regarding handling Premium Trains.
*➡️ Maintenance: Bad, like literally BAD. Just coming from a Trip in NR Vande...
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Bharat, this rake looked like a Total Jugaad to me. Many Push Back Seats in Executive Class were not working, my seat didn't had a stopping mechanism it got pushed back whenever I say on it. Catering guys were putting Tapes and stickers everywhere. Toilet doors had jugaads everywhere. 3 Windows I saw were damaged by Stones, not sure whether it was that day only or the damage from previous day.
*➡️ Food: Simply excellent, whatever complaints I had with the food of Varanasi Vande Bharat got resolved here. Dinner loaded from Gwalior was simply brilliant. Dry Sabzi was actually the star here, superbly made. Gwalior does provide better Catering. Food was piping hot.
*➡️ Patronage: Humongous Crowd at Gwalior (pics attached), good crowd at Jhansi and decent crowd at Agra. Gwalior provides significant amount of Passengers to Executive Class as well, with minimal contributions by Agra and Jhansi. Was relatively empty when I had the ticket booked by Company Agent, but it was running FULL when I traveled. Gwalior can handle a Shatabdi in morning as well for Indore/Jabalpur via Bhopal, it has the potential.
*➡️ Punctuality: Compared to the relatively relaxed run of Varanasi Vande Bharat, this train is relentless and highly aggressive. Reached Agra some minutes late, Reached Gwalior 12 minutes before time, Reached Jhansi 5 minutes before time and reached Rani Kamlapati Outer 40 minutes before time, got regulated at Outer to handle departure of Rewanchal Express first and finally reached RKMP 15 minutes before time. TOO MUCH SLACK.
*➡️ Rake: Executive Class of this Vande Bharat is same as Solapur Vande Bharat. Passengers can individually take their food tables out without disturbing others. It's maintained poorly. Public Announcement Systems are used regularly by train manager to tell OBHS Guys which Coaches to clean, which simply doesn't sound good when you're having your food and manager is publicly announcing blockage of a Toilet 😂. NR handled it internally and Professionally.