The bi-weekly Swarna Jayanti Express from Hazrat Nizamuddin to Visakhapatnam is being patronised by hundreds of Telugus working in Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, situated on the Pak border and those from Jammu. The train, which leaves Hazrat Nizamuddin early in the mornings, covers the 2,095 km distance in about 35 hours 40 minutes.
The Telugu people employed in the Army had to travel by autorickshaws from New Delhi to Hazrat Nizamuddin, in the biting cold.
They hope that the railway authorities concerned would extend this train at least up to New Delhi, if not Sri Ganganagar, for their convenience.
Those who travelled from Nizamuddin by this train on Jan 10 (Wednesday) say this train was not cleaned by the ‘on board cleaning staff’ since Thursday morning till evening.
The coaches were very dirty and were not even cleaned at major junctions like Vijayawada. Ironically, the cleaning staff made a sudden appearance around Tuni, barely a few hours before the train was scheduled to reach its destination – Visakhapatnam Junction.
They wonder what was the point in cleaning the coaches hours before the destination, while passengers were put to inconvenience throughout the day.
The toilets were unclean but the cleaning staff were nowhere to be seen.
The private cleaning contractor, perhaps, wanted to present a clean coach to the officials at the destination.
“This train is also convenient for passengers coming from Vijayawada to Visakhapatnam. I got an SMS on Wednesday night itself that my train is running late by 1 hour and 15 minutes and on Jan 11 early hours another SMS that it was late by 2 hours and asked me to dial 139 for the status. This is very useful service to the passengers,” says another passenger who travelled by the III AC coach.
“The coach was dirty and the cleaning staff was not seen in any of the coaches as I went from coach to coach looking for them. The Pantry Car sold veg. biryani for ₹70 but the rice was raw and watery and it was ‘tasteless’, he said.
B. Madhu Gopal
