Deccan Queen Express: After 89 years, Indian Railways plans to discontinue the dining coach on the Deccan Queen Express. The step is being considered due to the growing number of passengers on the Pune-Mumbai route. Milind Deouskar, Pune’s Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) was quoted in an HT report saying that a coach has to be dedicated for dining on the train while other trains get extremely crowded because of the rapid increase in the number of passengers on the 150 km long route, linking Pune and Mumbai. He further said that it often gets difficult for Indian Railways to keep one dedicated coach for the dining car.
According to Deouskar, there is a proposal to do away with the dinning coach system. Soon, a decision will be taken in this regard. However, before taking a final call, all aspects of ending the dining system will be discussed, he added. The dining coach provides comfortable cushioned seating arrangements for a total of 32 passengers. Some of the popular dishes offered on the dining coach include masala omelette, vegetable cutlets, misal paav, batata vada, thaalipeeth, kanda bhaji, sabudana khichdi, etc, the report said.
The Deccan Queen Express is the only passenger train on Indian Railways’ network to have a dining car. The dining coach was introduced soon after the train became operational on June 1, 1930. The Deccan Queen Express will complete 89 glorious years next month. The train which is operated by the Central Railway zone was the first deluxe train to be introduced by the national transporter. Besides providing great comfort to rail passengers, the Deccan Queen Express has also witnessed many other improvements over the years such as coaches with roller bearings (introduced for the first time in the country), introduction of first and second class chair cars and introduction of self-generating coaches with 110 volts system.
