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Deccan Queen revamp: Passengers unhappy with pre-cooked meals
Deccan Queen ran in its new avatar on June 22 with new LHB coaches, an LHB vista dome coach, and an LHB dining car
PUNE The next time you travel to Mumbai by the Pune-Mumbai Deccan Queen Express train, you will certainly miss the freshly cooked meals in its iconic dining car coach. Reason being the dining car now gets pre-cooked food items that are kept in a hot case and then served to passengers in keeping with a recent railway decision. Passengers are also not happy with the new look train as the earlier conventional coaches have been replaced with newly-design Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches, apart from reducing the number of coaches from the earlier 17 to just 16.
As per information provided by the Central Railways (CR), the Deccan Queen – the first deluxe train introduced to serve the two important cities of Mumbai and Pune – ran in its new avatar on June 22 with new LHB coaches, an LHB vista dome coach, and an LHB dining car. The LHB coaches were much-awaited and the train’s run in its new avatar was met with thunderous applause from passengers and railway fans.
The revised composition of the train is four AC chair car, eight second-class chair car, one Vista dome coach, one AC dining car, guard cum brake van and a generator car. Starting June 22, it has a total 16 coaches and passengers are requested to follow all norms mandated for Covid-19 while travelling.
Sagar Abnawe, who travelled to Mumbai from Pune, said, “I traveled by Deccan Queen express train today from Pune to Mumbai and it was a different experience compared to the old coaches. We used to go to the dining car and have a morning breakfast of vegetable cutlets and bread omelet but now it is not available and pre-cooked food items are given to passengers. Also the seats in the second-class sitting coaches are a bit congested.”
The Deccan Queen runs daily between Pune and Mumbai and there are regular office-goers who do a daily up-down between these two cities for work. While there have been continuous changes made in the facilities considering passenger demand, Harsha Shah, president, Railway Pravasi Group, said, “The LHB coaches which are newly-attached to this train are nothing different from other LHB coaches in Indian railway’s other divisions. Also, the dining car of this new train is now getting pre-cooked food items which are kept in a hot case and then served to passengers. Due to this, passengers are unhappy and at least the basic breakfast items should be cooked in the dining car with the help of new technology electric induction.”
