Kanpur: Railwaymen called President Ram Nath Kovind a “People’s President” for using a train to commute to Kanpur.
President Kovind travelled to Kanpur from Delhi by the Presidential train on Friday, June 25.
This Journey of the President has marked several “firsts” in the history of Indian Railways in general and North Central Railway in particular.
This is the first time that the President will be visiting his birthplace after taking over his present assignment.
It is also the first time in the history of Indian Railways when any President came out of his special train enroute his journey to interact with common people and address the gathering at any roadside railway stations.
Further, it is also the first time when the President decided to undertake a train journey by a Presidential train as opposed to the Presidential saloon which was in vogue in yesteryears.
It may be noted that the President travelled in a coach comparable to the ones in the Maharaja Express tourist train.
The service of the Presidential saloon, which was in use since independence had been discontinued on the instructions of the President owing to high costs involved.
This saved the exchequer crores of rupees annually which was incurred in the upkeep of those saloons.
President’s train journey has been a morale booster and a confidence builder for Railwaymen involved in the process and at large as well.
Now, the railwaymen are fondly calling President Kovind as the ‘People’s President’ for his decision to take a ride on the common man’s mode of transportation.
Loco pilots of the Presidential train Sanjay Kumar Singh and Anil Kumar Dixit have described this journey as their “journey of lifetime”.
They felt pride in becoming part of this journey.
Railwaymen worked hard day and night to provide a flawless and seamless journey for the nation’s first citizen.
Functionaries involved in the process included the staff and officers from all ranks and departments of organization.
Vinod, a trolleyman in the track maintenance department at Dadri station says, “We inspected the tracks thoroughly before passing this train.
I felt proud as a railwayman as our President was using the train as his mode of conveyance to his home.” Exchanging all right signals at stations, level crossings and passing trains is an integral part of IR safety protocol in train operations.
Vivek Kumar (gateman), Devesh Kumar (pointsman) Aligarh station, Lakhan Lal Meena (passenger guard) Tundla headquarter, Santosh Kumar (station master) Etawah and numerous other alert railwaymen performed their duties diligently and expressed the feeling of satisfaction and pride after the train passed safely from their locations.
They called the moment to be awesome for all railwaymen.
Akshay Deep Chauhan, guard of the Presidential train from Delhi Safadarjung to Kanpur Central said, “I lived one of the most unforgettable moments of my life, being the guard of the presidential train was an opportunity of a lifetime.
This journey gave me the deepest sense of fulfilment, delight and happiness.” The teams deployed at two stopovers at Jhinjhak and Rura and at Kanpur Central Railway Station in the leadership of GM/NCR VK Tripathi and DRM Prayagraj Mohit Chandra kept everything up to the mark to welcome President Kovind.
Several ‘firsts’ in Prez’s train journey to Kanpur
