RailEnquiry

PATNA: The Danapur division of East Central Railway (ECR) has decided to withdraw duplicate Sampoorna Kranti Express being run with Linke Holfman Bush (LHB) rake between Patna Junction and Anand Vihar (Delhi) from January next month. The decision has been taken due to poor patronage extended to this train by North Central Railway (NCR), Allahabad, and Northern Railway (NR), New Delhi.

Confirming the decision, Danapur DRM L M Jha said the train was introduced during festival period to reduce the huge rush of passengers willing to travel by Sampoorna Kranti Express (12393 -12394). Passengers travel by the duplicate train as the railways provided full comforts to them in the LHB rake. Besides, it maintained punctuality, at least from Patna Junction. However, poor patronage given to this train in other railways adversely affected its popularity among the passengers, he said.

According to Jha, the Patna-New Delhi route is heavily crowded as several pairs of trains like Rajdhani Express are running on this route with full occupancy. The rush of passengers is still too high and there is hardly any berth available in any Delhi-bound train from here. The duplicate Sampoorna Kranti was a great relief to passengers as berths were easily available in it, he said.

According to sources, the LHB rake was introduced to run duplicate Sampoorna Kranti as it was lying idle in the Danapur railway yard. Their design and structure looked like that of LHB coaches of Rajdhani Express. However, the LHB rake was different in weight, size and other designs from the Rajdhani Express rake, sources said, adding the duplicate Sampoorna Kranti has 110 kmph speed between Patna and Mughalsarai and 130 kmph between Mughalsarai and Delhi.

The main reason behind withdrawing the duplicate Sampoorna Kranti is the fact that it never maintained its punctuality in other railways. Passengers had complained about deplorable hygiene condition in the coaches from Delhi end. The NR and NCR zones initiated no step to improve the timing and cleanliness inside coaches and toilets, an ECR official said.