Why I would choose Gatimaan over Shatabdi? -Governance Now

Why I would choose Gatimaan over Shatabdi?

It makes sense to take the Gatimaan Express to Agra as it is value for money.

Aasha Khosa | December 21, 2016 | New Delhi

#value for money #hotel #Agra #Shatabdi #Gatimaan Express

I have started liking the Gatimaan Express, the Delhi-Agra ‘bullet’ train, not so much for being a time-saver – as it takes about 15 minutes less than the Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi - but for the awesome food that’s served on board to passengers.

The breakfast platter that the waiter served me at about 8.30 am qualifies to be called the brunch. Food came in good measure, both in quality and quantity.

The Uttapam-rava idli served with piping hot sambar and coconut chutney had an authentic taste. It also had seasonal cut fruits and bread. One could wash the food down with pineapple juice and later, with the choice of tea or coffee. A pack of two biscuits, and sachet each of jam and butter for the bread was there.

The non-vegetarian travelers were served omelet. At Rs 755 fare, I thought, the food give the traveler good value for his money. The food indeed was such a refreshing change from the potato-cutlet fried pea stuff often served on the Shatabdi and even Rajdhani trains.

My co-passenger, who was a frequent train traveler, told me that this was the best train meal he had ever had. “Rajdhani food is so down market.” His experience related to the Kolkata-bound Rajdhani.

Being the youngest train, the interiors are clean and toilets not too bad. However, the only time one is transported to the normal train is, when the otherwise well turned out waiters awkwardly carry the breakfast trays on their arms; the rest of the serving is done on trolleys. One wonders why trolleys should not be used for serving breakfast too, the way it’s done in the airplanes. This, obviously, would make serving convenient and dignified.

I found a lot of foreign tourists on board. In Agra the general manager of a top-end hotel told me that his guests were opting more for Gatimaan than the Shatabdi.

More importantly, unlike the Shatabdi, the Gatimaan is never late. In fact it’s too punctual to be called the Indian train. Shatabdi from the Bhopal end (to Delhi) usually gets late by hours, causing huge inconvenience to the passengers due to its post-midnight arrival.

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