From Vibrant Kolkata to Majestic Delhi: An Unforgettable First Class Duronto Express Adventure
Trains have always been a major part of our lives. From my childhood days I have always awaited vacations that lead to my native land and to experience the thrill of an overnight train journey. Days have gone by and I grew up, but that urge and thrill of boarding a train, meeting new people, and savoring the roadside tea or coffee never perished. With the same feeling in my heart, we boarded Kolkata to Delhi Duronto Express (12259).
We were fortunate enough to get the First Class Coupe on our very first journey. We have seen a lot of vlogs on YouTube but experiencing it is totally different. Here we will highlight the positive and negative sides of this experience and how you can make the experience even better. We also have a vlog on this journey, feel free to watch.
The Good
Clean Coupe
If you are a hygiene cautious person then this can be the perfect choice for you. You are going to get a clean personal cabin, with an attendant just a call away. You room will be cleaned as much time as you want and even if you don’t call them; the IRCTC attendants are going to do it anyway. Regarding toilet, you will have a clean one and a shower room as a bonus. Inside Duronto Express cabins you will find a dustbin as well to keep the chamber mess-free.
Food
IRCTC offers you veg and non-veg option when you are booking the tickets. However, if you want then you can opt for anything you want after boarding the train. The quality of the food is good. I will not say it’s just like home, but it is not too spicy that your children cannot eat. You are provided with so much food that you might feel irritated once. One more added perk of first-class traveling is, you can have as much tea as you want. Just ask the attendant and he will deliver. In my experience be friendly with the attendants and you might have some added perks as well.
Cooperative Staff
The Duronto Express route is very prolonged and covers 1453 km and it has only three halts between Sealdah and New Delhi.
| Station Code | Station | Arrival | Departure | Distance (kms) |
| SDAH | Sealdah | Starts | 18.30 | 0 |
| DHN | Dhanbad Jn | 21:51 | 21:56 | 266 |
| DDU | Dd Upadhyaya Jn | 02:20 | 02:30 | 467 |
| CNB | Kanpur Central | 06:25 | 06:30 | 1014 |
| NDLS | New Delhi | 11:30 | Ends | 1453 |
In this entire journey, you will not have any problems with any of the attendants. They are professional and cooperative. Always meeting your needs with a smile and putting extra effort into everything, make the crew of Duronto Express separate from others.
The undermining aspects
I think there are a few things to be improved in the system.
The amenities of first class
The price you are paying for the first class journey is quite a hefty amount and I think the individual cabins should have some more technical features. At least, they should provide you with a sufficient place to hang your clothes if you want to get comfortable on the journey. The rooms should be more soundproof. Sometimes, it was becoming irritating to converse with my wife.
The tea
On behalf of all the tea lovers of the world, I would like to request IRCTC to stop giving the “dip tea”. It is basically tasteless and there is no essence of tea in it. this is a very basic change that can have a deep impact on the passengers. I think they can afford to give “kadak chai” to the First Class passengers.
People would say that more than 5000 INR is too expensive for one night only, but you need to compare it with the services offered by Duronto Express. Indian railways are not that costly if you compare it with the services being offered and the distance you are covering with the same amount. I would highly recommend this experience.