Inaugural Run of Sealdah Puri Duranto

Just as we entered Sealdah Station the Newbie was decorated with finesse. The loco which got thee honors of hauling the first ICF/RCF Sleeper Duronto was HWH WAP-4#22405 (Trayambak Ojha)

The loco looked like a newly married bride with floral decorations. Howrah shed would be taking care of the loco allotments for this train (Trayambak Ojha)

Loco pilots, Chief Loco Inspector and other Loco trip shed staff were totally engrossed in the loco doing all sorts of checks and completing documenting formalities (Trayambak Ojha)

The loco seemed revel in it glory and decoration (Avishek Basu)

There was a bevy of staff inspecting the loco in an out. This seemed to be a freshly POH'ed loco and was shining bright (Trayambak Ojha)

The Sleeper coaches of the Duronto from outside with the name boards and the coach markings (Trayambak Ojha)

There was a strong presence of GM, AGM ER amongst other GM's office staff. They were giving very strong instructions about the operation of the train in specific to the Pantry Car contracter and the staff (Trayambak Ojha)

Though the entire rake was 2011 series rake, only the Pantry Car was out of place. It was a 96 made pantry with a typical navy blue livery at the ends compared to the other coaches which were sky blue painted at the ends behind the Duronto vinyl (Trayamba

A look at the interiors of the Sleeper coaches of the Duronto. All the coaches were 2011 manufactured brand new stock (Avishek Basu)

Another look at the seats of Sleeper coaches which looked really elegant, comfortable which also had a the luxury of charging points. (Avishek Basu)

There was a grand hoopla function also held at the end of Platform 9A of Sealdah Station which was telecasted live on an LCD TV at the same platform (Trayambak Ojha)

Another first for Mamta Didi's home territory! Something which I always thought was logical. Presenting India's first ICF/RCF Non-LHB Sleeper Duronto. 22201- Sealdah-Puri Duronto (Trayambak Ojha)

An aisle view of the Third AC coach of the Sealdah Puri Duronto (Avishek Basu)

A look at the interiors of the 3A coach of the train. It looked regular like a normal Express train 3A coach. 2A coaches were similar. (Avishek Basu)

The TTE of the AC coaches posed very smartly with arrogance in front of his train. Each and every staff was very proud of this train (Trayambak Ojha)

The smartly dressed Pantry staff of the Duronto head inside the coach as thee departure of the train neared. (Trayambak Ojha)

New Utensils and other pantry items stacked up in the coach. Nothign was being cooked as there were few passengers inside and the food was pre-loaded (Trayambak Ojha)

Bed Roll for the Sleeper coaches stacked into one of the last Side Lowers of a Sleeper coach. (Trayambak Ojha)

The Sleeper coaches were manufactured by RCF Kapurthala of 2011 stock as it is seen here (Trayambak Ojha)

The RRI staff as well as the LP were patiently waiting for the dignitaries to flag off the train. They were very eager to start off (Trayambak Ojha)

The Chart shows it all. Hardly any occupancy for a less advertised inaugural run (Avishek Basu)

There were very very few passengers far apart in few of the coaches. These were some of the lucky passengers who will travel like a King in the pleasant post winter season even in SL (Avishek Basu)

So finally the dignitaries flag off the train with much fanfare and a strong media presence. The prominent figure was Mamta di's strongman Sudip Bandhopadhyay- MP from Kolkata North. There was a similar function held at Barrackpore which was presided by o

The guard who would be the actual controller of the running train. Apparently the CLI informed the next day that they were instructed strictly to follow only the Guard's order while the trains was running (Trayambak Ojha)

And we bod good bye to the train as it departs at it's scheduled time at 15:15 hours from Platform 9A of Sealdah Station (Trayambak Ojha)

The unsung hero! The shunter loco and the LP both seem to be happy hauling the rake from the yard to the platform. (Trayambak Ojha)

On this special occasion, there were additional flower pots bought into the platform and special cleaning squad was deployed. (Trayambak Ojha)