[MINUS]

NEW DELHI: Railway minister Mamata Banerjee's dream express Duranto touted to be the fastest non-stop train in India completed its maiden journey

on Saturday. After covering more than 1,500 km, the train, which was flagged off by Banerjee from Sealdah at 5pm on Friday, arrived at New Delhi Railway Station 50 minutes late at 9.50am on Saturday.

But most passengers said they were "happy'' with the new train and claimed it could, in the long run, replace the 40-year-old Rajdhani as the numero uno express service. According to S K Mukherjee, a passenger, the journey was comfortable. "The train is comparable to the Rajdhanis. I wish this runs daily," he added.

Another passenger S Singh, however, said the food quality needs improvement. "Unlike the Rajdhanis, which have two pantry cars, this train has only one. Hence, the service sometimes became erratic and we had to wait longer for meals,'' he said.

According to officials of Eastern Railway, the train got delayed for about half-an-hour at Dankuni in West Bengal after a kite got entangled with the pantograph of the engine. But after that, the multi-coloured train made steady progress stopping only at Dhanbad, Mughalsarai and Kanpur for technical stops each lasting less than 10 minutes. "The train has a very tight schedule. If there is a little delay in its normal run, it becomes difficult to make up for the lost time in the rest of the journey,'' said a senior Indian Railways official.

Northern Railway officials claimed it was only an unscheduled run, but assured that there would be no more delays once the train begins its scheduled journey. "We had to accommodate this train on an unscheduled run. From September 21, we will have no such problem. The 2559/60 Sealdah-New Delhi Duranto will leave Sealdah on Thursdays and Sundays at 6.40pm and arrive at New Delhi the next day at 11am. The train will start from New Delhi on Fridays and Mondays at 8.05pm and reach Sealdah at 12.25pm the next day,'' said Anant Swarup, CPRO, Northern Railway.

The fully-airconditioned Duranto has 15 coaches. The fare for a 1AC ticket is Rs 3,295 compared to Rs 3,395 in Rajdhani. The 2AC ticket is priced at Rs 1,880 and 3AC at Rs 1,390. The corresponding fares in Rajdhani trains are Rs 2,030 and Rs 1,535 respectively.

The railway minister, it seems, has taken a cue from her predecessor Lalu Yadav. She is not only using Garib Rath coaches for this new train, but also introduced 3AC economy class coaches, which have three side-berths that Lalu coceptualized but later scrapped it after facing flak. The fare for this class has been fixed at Rs 1,335.

Meanwhile, a pantry car assistant suffered minor burn injuries on his face due to rising steam from a boiling kettle. "The incident took place after the train left Kanpur. He was taken to the New Delhi railway hospital for treatment,'' said A S Negi, spokesperson of Indian Railways.

The Chennai Duranto the second such train will begin its maiden journey on September 21.

Source : Times of India