HUBBALI: The South Western Railway (SWR) has plans to operate Vistadome coaches with one of the trains that pass through the Western Ghats and Dudhsagar waterfalls. Soon tourists can enjoy the beauty of nature and enjoy enhanced viewing experiences.
There was a long pending demand from the region to run Vistadome coaches passing through Dudhsagar cascade and in the deep forests, hillocks, and tunnels of the Western Ghats. As a result, the SWR has planned to run a Vistadome coach on one of the trains. For this purpose, the railway zone is communicating with Southern Railway, Konkan Railway and Central Railway zones.
A senior railway official said that the Poorna Express train, which runs between Ernakulam to Pune via Belagavi, Londa, Dudhsagar, Madgaon, Karwar and Mangaluru is a suitable train to attach a Vistadome coach. The train is being operated bi-weekly with high occupancy and also it covers many tourist places and parts of the Western Ghat stretch in four states.
The train passes through Belagavi, Londa, Doodhsagar, Madgaon, Karwar, Gokarna, Murdeshwar, Udupi, Mangaluru and reaches Ernakulam from Pune. Passengers can enjoy the beauty of nature on this stretch which overs waterfalls, tunnels, thick forest, hillocks, the west coast and more. “Once the communication between other zones gets completed, the same proposal will be sent to central railway board who will allot a Vistadome coach to attach to the proposed train,” he added.
There was a lot of demand from the region to run the train from Hubballi to Madgaon via Dudhsagar, which is the main tourists place during the monsoon. Even many railway users have written to the railway board and SWR in this regard.
Railway officials said the Vistadome coaches have been manufactured on Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) technology. On the Dudhsagar stretch, only the Poorna Express train has LHB coaches. The Amaravati Express, which runs between Vasco-Da-Gama and Howrah have Integral Coach Factory (ICF) coaches, is not suitable for Vistadome coaches.
“To begin with there is a plan to attach the Vistadome coach with Poorna Express, after seeing passengers' response, more coaches will be added," the official said.