Inaugural Run of Sealdah Puri Duranto
Sealdah Puri Duronto was inaugurated with a lot of Fanfare on Sunday 12th Feb 2012. As usual IRFCA made it's presence felt with Avishek Basu and Trayambak Ojha reporting the occasion through their lenses. This is historic as the first ICF Sleeper Duronto taking the Bhattanagr-Andul byepass into South Eastern Railway
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)
And Here she goes amidst a lot of fanfare. The LP seemed very happy along with the controlling staff. Maiden journey starts (Avishek Basu)
The train left but the politicos did not leave the opportunity of gathering the accolades on their own. Seen here the MP boasting of the Rail minister, Chief Minister and even himself amidst a decent public and crowd presence. (Trayambak Ojha)