Bangalore, Jan 4 (DHNS): With the joyous screams of ecstatic passengers and noisy, excited onlookers serving as the backdrop, the Duranto Express (superfast, non-stop train) bound to Howrah chugged out of Yeshwantpur railway station on its maiden run on Sunday morning.
Union Minister of State for Railways, K H Muniyappa, waved the green flag at 11.15 am to launch the flower-decked train from Platform Six. The colourful train, painted with a collage of red, green and cream, on the exterior of coaches, will traverse 1,946 kms in 29 hours before it terminates at Howrah at 4 pm on Monday. The train was almost full, with over 950 passengers on board. The travel time is seven hours lesser than the time taken by the existing train services to Howrah.
Stringent security was in place on the platform with all stalls closed till 1 pm.
Attractive features
The superfast weekly express stands out on many counts when compared to the regular train. Sliding transparent doors between coaches, sleeker-designed bottle holders and switches are a few obvious ones. Lighting is both aesthetically appealing and clear with the imported light fittings providing better illumination and light dispersion and LED night lamps substituting the regular fluorescent lights. Pantry car is provided on board with the cost of food included in the ticket. Newspapers are provided on a complimentary basis.
The coaches of Duranto Express have a compact power panel design. It is equipped with a micro-controller based package unit mounted on to the roof. This ensures control of humidity and temperature apart from air conditioning.
When asked about the advanced features, a passenger, Rajeev, was quite guarded in his response, “The train is new and feels good to travel in it. We will know other aspects of the train only as the journey progresses.” Passengers on board, mostly Bengalis, were quite excited about the trip and adjectives to describe their experience ran thus: “good”, “excellent”, “a huge time-saver” and “a great gift”.
The cost of the tickets on board are as follows: First AC: Rs 4,045; Second AC: Rs 2,525 and Third AC: Rs 1,930. The Sleeper class ticket costs Rs 755 and those opting for this ticket can avail bedroll by payment of additional Rs 25 when booking the ticket. For AC passengers, bedroll cost is included in ticket.
MP Ananth Kumar, Malleshwaram MLA Dr C N Ashwath Narayan and Gandhinagar MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao, Divisional Railway Manager, Bangalore Division, Akhil Agrawal, Chief Administrative Officer, South Western Railway, Vijayakumaran, were present. Many Congress workers were also present holding aloft the party flag.
Schedule
The Howrah-Yeshwantpur Weekly Duranto Express (Train no 2245) leaves Howrah on Fridays at 11 am and arrives at Yeshwantpur on Saturdays at 4 pm (Launched last Wednesday, December 30, 2009)
The Yeshwantpur-Howrah Weekly Duranto Express (Train no 2246) leaves Yeshwantpur on Sundays at 11.15 a.m. It reaches Howrah on Mondays at 4 p.m. The train has 1 first-class AC coach, 1 two-tier AC coach, 3 three-tier ac coaches, 8 three-tier second class sleeper coaches, 2 second-class cum luggage vans and 1 pantry car.