Poor service on Shatabdi

The prestigious Ludhiana-New Delhi Shatabdi started 5 minutes late from Ludhiana railway station and it was a big disappointment for passengers who got poor catering services on day one. Coaches had inadequate staff to serve meals and even the food was of poor quality. The train was flagged off at 4.45 p.m from Ludhiana railway station by Minister of state for Railways K H Muniyappa against the scheduled time of 4.40 p.m. An old train was refurbished against the Railways’ promise to dedicate a new train.

Against the total seats of 550,only 210 were filled on day one. The train will have stoppage at Sangrur and Rohtak and its arrival time at New Delhi railway station is 10.05 p.m. This train is to initially run four days in a week and in 3 months,it will be run on a daily basis,said the Minister. He went back by the same Shatabdi along with Sangrur MP Vijay Inder Singla.

However,poor catering disappointed the passengers on day one,as stated by a passenger Jatinder to Newsline over phone. “We were not given an option between tea and coffee and even tea mugs were not served. We had tea in the disposable glasses which were given for drinking water.” Catering services for this train have been bagged by Congress leader Rajinder Singh Basant,who runs a chain of restaurants and ice-cream parlours in Punjab.

At the first stop Sangrur,passengers were welcomed with traditional Punjabi songs and a Jaago was taken out. Villagers gathered in large numbers to see the train in Sangrur as Shatabdi was a new concept for this small town.