Rajendra B. Aklekar
@rajtoday
Baked beans with buttered bread, cheese toast sandwich,
omelette bread, pomfret bread with potato chips and chicken cutlet--people will
no longer be able to sit and enjoy the popular items on the menu of 85-year-old
restaurant-cum-dining car of the Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen.
The iconic dining car is no
longer in service and has been replaced with a normal pantry car. Food items,
however, will still be delivered on order. The dining car used to offer table
service for 32 passengers and had facilities such as microwave, deep freezer
and toaster. It was tastefully furnished with cushioned chairs and carpets, and
food was served in customised crockery, and regular commuters are ruing the
change.
Badlapur resident Amol P
Nikam, who works for Infosys, queried the Central Railway (CR) about the dining
car and was told that the car's codal life was over and it has been replaced
with another one. "But sadly, the new one is a normal pantry car," he
lamented.
"It is the end of an
era. The railways should continue the legacy of the dining car, as it has
history and was quite popular among generations of commuters," said Pune
resident Apurva Bahadur, who has been documenting railways for more than 20
years now.
Borivali resident Akshay
Marathe said, "The dining car was an integral part of the Deccan Queen
experience. Its ambience complemented the delicious food. Sitting by a window
of the car and sipping coffee while the train slowly wound its way up the Bhor
ghats was heavenly. Without the dining car, Deccan Queen is incomplete."
Frequent Mumbai-Pune
traveller Abhishek Risbud has fond memories of the Deccan Queen dining car.
"Possibly the only train where you could get a fresh pizza. Baked beans
with toast was my wife's favourite dish, while I liked chicken cutlet. It had
fabulous seating. Food and beverages were served in nice crockery," he
said.
CR officials said they will have to examine the feasibility
of introducing a new dining car again. "As of now, the train has been
given a pantry car, which stocks all the required food and beverages. It has
been painted in the Deccan Queen paint scheme so that the coach does not look
odd," said a senior official.
The Deccan Queen, initially, had only first class
and second class accommodation. First class was abolished on 1st
January 1949 and second class was redesigned as first class, which continued up
to June 1955 when third class was introduced on this train for the first
time. This was later re-designated as second class from April 1974
onwards. The coaches of the original rakes were replaced in
1966 by anti-telescopic steel bodied integral coaches built by Integral Coach
Factory, Perambur.
These coaches incorporated improved design of
bogies for better riding comfort and also improvements in the interior
furnishings and fittings. The number of coaches in the rake was also
increased to 12 from the original 7 coaches providing additional
accommodation. Over the year the number of coaches in the train has
been increased to the present level of 17 coaches.
From its inception, apart from providing high
standards of comfort to the passengers, the train has witnessed various
improvement such as introduction, for the first time in India, of coaches with
roller bearings, replacement of end on generation coaches with self generating
coaches with 110 volts system and introduction of first and second class chair
cars providing increased accommodation to passengers. The
distinctive colour scheme of cream and oxford blue with red band above the
window level has been recently adopted as the colour scheme for this train.
With the ever-growing aspirations of the travelling
public for better amenities, improved standards of comfort and better quality
of service, it was considered necessary to give a complete facelift to
the Deccan Queen.
The rake was
changed in 1995 with the following special features:
* All newly
manufactured or about a year old, air brake coaches.
*The 5 first
class chair car in the old rake have been replaced by 5 AC chair cars
providing an additional seating capacity of 65 in a
dust-free environment. Also the 9-second class chair cars
provide additional seating capacity of 120 seats compared to the old
coaches. Thus, new rake provides a total seating capacity of
1417 as against 1232 seats in the old rake i.e. an increase of 15%.
* The dining
car offers table service for 32 passengers and has modern pantry
facilities such as microwave oven, deep freezer and
toaster. The dining car is also tastefully furnished with cushioned
chairs and carpet.
*The history
of Deccan Queen (Dakkhan
ki Rani) is literally a tale of two cities. The public of both the
cities are happy with the impeccable record of “right time start” and “arrival”
of Deccan Queen. Over the
last 80 years of its colourful history, the train has grown from a mere medium
of transportation between two cities into an institution binding generation of
intensely loyal passengers.
*The management
systems of Deccan Queen (2123
Dn / 2124 Up) have been assessed by International Services Ltd. and found to
comply with the requirements of ISO 9001-2000 under the Joint Accreditation
System of Australia and New Zealand in November 2003.
*At Present Deccan Queen (12123/12124)
runs with 17 coaches including 4 AC chair car, one Dining Car, 10 second class chair car and two
second class cum brake vans.
rajendraa @ gmail.com
(Thanking Akshay Marathe, Aditya Kambli for pics and Amol Nikam for the query)
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