AC First Class Details for Duronto Express

I was booking a ticket on the Sealdah Duronto Express
and i booked for First AC (1A)
I filled preference as Lower berth
but it prompted me that all lower are filled
and i was given an option to continue without any preference so that i maybe alloted any berth

now i want to ask is that in 1A i guess there is nothing like lower/upper, or is there?
then what is extra in 1A over 2A
should i do in 2A now

Can you somehow get a copy of that?

In 1A, berth allocation isn't decided until the reservation charts are prepared, and that only happens a few hours before the train departs it's origination station.

and how is a compartment in a 1A bogey?
i heard there are 4 berths
then how does it become different than 2A
i took a 1A ticket only becoz i wanted a single seat and did not want the upper berth
this is really bad on part of indian railways

Some Compartments in AC1 have only 2 berths also.

Here's the berth layout for 1A, then 1A + 2A combination carriage, then 2A carriage.













And this should help to understand the above diagrams.












This still doesn't explain why you were informed that the lower berths in 1A were already gone, that shouldn't/couldn't happen, what website did you use, and what was the exact wording?

I forget to mention, some of the Duronto trains have LHB carriages, and those have 24 berths in a 1A carriage.

this is very bad
1A should mean single berths
not some upper lower sh!t
why r they taking 3300 when they r fooling us passengers
i could have done 2A for 1900 it would be same

huh?? Do you mean you want One (1) berth per cabin in 1A? See the diagrams posted by Steven first to understand the difference between 1A and 2A.
(Btw, I agree 1A is pricey, and not worth it. I love sleeper!)

Extra charge is because
1. You get a separate cabin (for 2/4 people) which is great for privacy if a family of 4 or 2 is travelling together as opposed to 2A where its one single common space
2. The leg room and birth size in 1A are significantly better than in 2A. Width of a 1A birth would be atleast 1.5 times a 2A birth. Wont be surprised if it is 2 times.
3. Finally, since its a duronto, onboard food is served. The food quality would again be significantly different. In 2A they will have standard packed food served in trays which in 1A they provided proper cutlery. Though I wont comment on taste but the quantity and quality is far better than 2A.

Who told you that ? Difference between 1A and 2A is that in 2A there are two side berths in the passage. 1A has only four inside berths, there is a door which can be locked.

Think twice before shouting that they are fooling us, when actually they are not.

i did not mean 1 berth per cabin
i meant 2 berths per cabin
means 1 on left and 1 on right
and nothing like 4 berths per cabin with upper and lower thing
this makes it as good as 2A
and if u see prices
there is a huge difference between 2A and 1A
i dont think just food quality and width must contribute to it
i have seen my uncle travelling in a compartment where he was alone on one side and other side was another person ( means 2 berth per cabin)

thanks buddy this helped a lot
i cannot recall the exact thing coz i m done with it
but it told me that lower seat cannot be allotted it was a dialog box so i clicked ok
then on next page they gave me two options
1. continue to book ticket with no preference ( accepting whatever seat u get)
2. dont continue to book ticket

That must be ateast 25-30 years ago when they had really 2 berth cabin as you described. But the current configuration is a standard in all trains

Hey Steve,

Great work on the layout. I notice that 1AC has 18 seats in your diagram. Whilst checking the availablity of 1AC seats for Ernakulam- Nizamudin Duronto, it seems there are 20 seats available as of 18th for 23rd. However, for the return journey, there are 14 seats even for a travel date in the month of June.

I am a little confused...Does the coach have 14 seats or is it 20?

In addition, would you by any chance understand the logic that is used whilst manually allocating a coupe or a cabin of 4 seats for 1AC? I have a 1AC ticket for the 20th on the Ernakulam Duronto from Nizamuudin and am hoping I would get a coupe. As on the 18th, there are 10 seats still available for the 20th. Whats the probablity of me getting the coupe? Or would I need to visit the PRS officer?

Cheers now.

I've no idea about these Duronto trains or what stock (carriages) they use.

The newer German built carriages that are used on some Rajdhani trains have more berths per carriage, but I don't know if the new Duronto trains use them.

Anyway, the number of berths allocated to the general quota of a particular sector isn't normally a good guide to the number of seats on that train, even on a Duronto train that only runs between 2 stations.

Check availability 91 days ahead, and before 08:00 IST, then you'll see how many berths are used for the general quota, then check the other quotas (Foreign tourist, defence, parliament, head office etc.), this will give a better indication of the total number of berths on that train, it gets more complicated on other trains where they may be berths allocated to certain sectors of the journey.

NZM-ERS

GN = 14
FT = 2
Parliament = 4
HO = 4

Total = 24

I seem to remember our member VSP saying that the German carriages had 24 berths in 1A, so maybe this Duronto has those carriages.