40th Anniversary Run of Howrah Rajdhani

Rajdhani 40th Anniversary - And here is the breakfast spread. After an early morning tea and biscuits, breakfast started with cornflakes and toast. This was followed by an omelette, a fish fry (veg cutlet in my case), toast, butter, reserves and a banana.

This personalised framed citation was presented by IRCTC to the passengers of the 40th anniversary run of the 2301 HWH-NDLS Rajdhani on 03.03.2009 (Samit Roychoudhury) (Samit Roychoudhury)

Cover of the leaflet presented by ER to passengers of the 40th anniversary run of the 2301 HWH-NDLS Rajdhani on 03.03.2009 (Samit Roychoudhury)

Page 1 of the English portion of the leaflet presented by ER to passengers of the 40th anniversary run of the 2301 HWH-NDLS Rajdhani on 03.03.2009 (Samit Roychoudhury)

Page 2 of the English portion of the leaflet presented by ER to passengers of the 40th anniversary run of the 2301 HWH-NDLS Rajdhani on 03.03.2009 (Samit Roychoudhury)

A medallion in the form of a keyring and presented by ER to passengers of the 40th anniversary run of the 2301 HWH-NDLS Rajdhani on 03.03.2009 (Samit Roychoudhury)

The special postal cover issued by the Dept of Posts and presented by ER to passengers of the 40th anniversary run of the 2301 HWH-NDLS Rajdhani on 03.03.2009 (Samit Roychoudhury)

Rajdhani 40th Anniversary - Note the red carpet rolled out on the platform edge at Howrah, not to mention the purple liveried hostesses! 03.03.2009, Howrah Station, India (Samit Roychoudhury)

Rajdhani 40th Anniversary - Even the railway police were all decked up, and for a change, happy to be photographed! 03.03.2009, Howrah Station, India (Samit Roychoudhury)

Rajdhani 40th Anniversary - Howrah's WDS-6 #36226, a shunting loco converted for bio-diesel use, in a jarring green livery shunted in the Rajdhani rake. 03.03.2009, Howrah Station, India (Samit Roychoudhury)

Rajdhani 40th Anniversary - I pose beside the flower adorned luggage and generator car of the Rajdhani on the anniversary run 03.03.2009, Howrah Station, India (Samit Roychoudhury)

Rajdhani 40th Anniversary - The pantry car staff wore these funny hats!!! 03.03.2009, Howrah Station, India (Samit Roychoudhury)

Rajdhani 40th Anniversary - The public throng the platform where senior Eastern Railway officers and local celebrities held forth, giving speeches, cutting cake, etc. 03.03.2009, Howrah Station, India (Samit Roychoudhury)

Rajdhani 40th Anniversary - The flower bedecked WAP-7 #30201, the first loco of the class, homed at Gomoh was given the privilege of this run. 03.03.2009, Howrah Station, India (Samit Roychoudhury)

Rajdhani 40th Anniversary - Inside the pantry car (hot buffet car) that caters to the AC first passengers. 03.03.2009, HWH - NDLS Raj, India (Samit Roychoudhury)

Rajdhani 40th Anniversary - Its tea time... After the fruit juice, we were served a nice cole slaw sandwich in brown bread, a dhokla, a kachori, a rajbhog, salted cashwenuts, and a small bar of 5 Star chocolate. The special was a box with four laddus. Tea

Rajdhani 40th Anniversary - Passenger Information System display in all First AC compartments, right next to the sliding door. This LCD panel gave out the next stop, the current speed, nearest station and the amount of delay. 03.03.2009, HWH - NDLS Raj, I

Rajdhani 40th Anniversary - Dinnertime Folks. We started with nice tomato soup, served with breadsticks and butter. The starters comprised of veg au-gratin, chicken tangri kabab and fish orly. The main course, shown here, was boiled vegetables, 'roast' ch