``It was terrible, my daughters had to sleep without food, as they didn't seem to have any. They are supposed to serve soup and snacks but even these weren't served,'' said Anita Prasad, a passenger. ``We were told that it was the first time they were using a pantry car being managed by the railways and the quality of the food would improve. But there was no food served despite repeated reminders to the attendants,'' added Mamta Prasad another passenger.

``They didn't serve us food till late in the night. It was only after we shouted at them that they finally served food at 10:30 p.m., is this the way you treat passengers,'' complained Chayya Narain, a passenger travelling in the AC-III tier coach.

According to some passengers it was a virtual free for all, as even people without tickets had occupied the compartments, and were squatting near the entrance and the corridors. ``We asked the attendents to call the superintendent to file a complaint but they told us that he didn't board the train at Patna. It was just like a passenger train what is the use of paying extra fare when you can't get good facilities,'' said Jyoti Kapoor, another passenger travelling on the train.

According to some, the attendants told them that since there were some problems in Patna, they couldn't load the food. Even as hungry passengers settled down to sleep, they were given damp sheets. ``They gave us the sheets which were damp and stinking. We asked them to replace it, but once again they gave us damp sheets, I have never had such a horrible experience.

They have hiked the fare but the services are pathetic,'' added Narain.Railway officials admitted that there were complaints about the catering services on the train, and only recently they had terminated the services of the private contractor which might have led to problems. The decline in the quality of service on board were pointed out recently by Express Newsline.