By IANS,
Kolkata : The Kolkata Rajdhani Express train celebrated its 40th birthday with cakes, music and flowers at Howrah station Tuesday evening.
The entire station was in a festive mood since morning. The train was decorated with flowers and its passengers were given a red-carpet welcome. A special postal cover with the picture of Rajdhani Express was also released to mark the day.
Security was stepped up at all platforms and no one was allowed to enter the station without a ticket. Additional security force was also deployed along with metal detectors and sniffer dogs.
“The first Rajdhani Express started its journey from the Howrah station on March 3, 1969. To celebrate this occasion, we have arranged for special welcome for passengers of the train. They were given roses, special greeting cards, sweet boxes with rasgullas, laddoos and pastries and copper key rings,” Eastern Railway spokesperson Samir Goswami told IANS Tuesday evening.
“While on board, there will be special items like tangri kabab on the menu,” Goswami said.
Several dignitaries, including Bengali actor Prosenjit, singer Usha Uthup, classical musician Ustad Rashid Khan, musician Bikram Ghosh, dancers Dona Ganguly and Tanushree Shankar and general manager of Eastern Railway Deepak Krishnan were present at platform no. 9 to witness the historic moment.
“Usha Uthup even sang a self-composed song on Rajdhani Express,” Goswami said.
“Everyone waved green flags and the Railway Police Force (RPF) band started playing as the train left the station for Delhi at 4.45 p.m.,” Goswami said.