NEW DELHI: Come new year, railways is all set to roll out Uday Express, its ambitious new long-distance double-decker train.
The trains will run on three routes-Coimbatore-Bengaluru; Bandra-Jamnagar and Visakhapatnam-Vijaywada.
Uday Express or the Utkrisht Double-Decker Air- conditioned Yatri Express was announced in the Railway Budget 2016-2017 and is specially aimed at catering to business travellers.
The first trial run of the train was conducted on August 10 with just three coaches, and the speed was then limited to just 80km per hour. The second took place on December 5 on the Coimbatore-Bangalore route at a speed of 100 kmph from covering a distance of around 235km.
Uday will join nine other double-decker trains in the railways' fleet.
The trains are a improved variant of the normal AC double-decker chair car coaches with vinyl wrapping on exterior coaches, LCD type passenger information system on each deck, dining space on middle deck area with provision of automatic food vending machine and large LCD screen for infotainment on every third coach.
The train will have two bathrooms with bio-toilets.
"These trains will have 40 percent additional passenger capacity and will be plying on busy routes. So, it's a great addition to our fleet," an official said.
The first Uday Express is likely to be first operational on the Coimbatore-Bangalore route.
Officials said that it will depart at 5:40 am from Coimbatore to reach Bengaluru at 12:40 pm, taking a total time of seven hours.
On the other hand, for the return journey, the Bengaluru- Coimbatore Uday Express will depart at 2:15 pm from Bengaluru to reach Coimbatore at 9:00 pm, taking a total time of 6 hours and 45 minutes.