The Indian Railways' only long-distance train with dining car --- the Deccan Queen, will come out with Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches early next year. The Central Railway (CR) authorities will retain the dining car with make of LHB coach, the first of its kind on Indian Railways. Recently they added Vistadome coach to Deccan Express train.
Dining car inside a long distance train exists only in Deccan Queen which is also among the oldest trains on the Indian Railways. The LHB coaches have better safety features, improved travelling experience, better suspension system and better riding comfort. This will surely benefit hundreds of people commuting up-down on Mumbai-Pune route for work.
Confirming the same Anil Kumar Lahoti, the General Manager of Central Railway said that the Deccan Queen will most likely get LHB coaches by January 2022. Sources in CR said that the concept of dining cars in trains is not there anymore. With the Deccan Queen getting LHB coaches, its dining car will also be transformed to accommodate 40 patrons instead of the present capacity to seat 32 patrons.
Initially, the train was introduced with two rakes of seven coaches, each painted in silver with scarlet moulding and the other with royal blue with gold lines. Over the year the number of coaches in the train has been increased to the present level of 17 coaches. The underframe of the coaches of the original rakes were built in England while its shells were built in the Matunga Workshop.
The coaches of the original rakes were replaced in 1966 by anti-telescopic steel bodied integral coaches built by Integral Coach Factory, Perambur. These coaches incorporated the improved design of bogies for better riding comfort and improvements in the interior furnishings and fittings. The introduction of Deccan Queen happened on June 1, 1930 as it was the first deluxe train introduced in India.
