BHUBANESWAR: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has decided to replace three more passenger trains in the State with Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) trains. The conventional coaches of Bhubaneswar-Bhadrak-Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneswar-Berhampur-Bhubaneswar and Bhubaneswar-Palasa-Bhubaneswar passenger trains will be replaced with high speed MEMU coaches from the fourth week of this month.
“With the three new MEMU trains, the State will now have a fleet of six such trains. Earlier, three MEMU trains were introduced along Angul, Paradip and Berhampur routes. On introduction of the new trains, which will run with new numbers, the services of the conventional coaches will be discontinued,” said an official.
While the service of Bhubaneswar-Bhadrak-Bhubaneswar MEMU will begin from April 20 from Bhubaneswar, the Bhubaneswar-Berhampur-Bhubaneswar and Bhubaneswar-Palasa-Bhubaneswar MEMUs will start from April 21.The official, however, clarified that on the days of maintenance of MEMU coaches, the conventional coaches will provide journey facilities for daily commuters. The timings and stoppage of MEMU trains will remain as usual.
The railway zone has planned to introduce the service in other sections after arrival of more MEMU coaches having 12 coaches each. Since MEMU trains have engines at both ends, it does not consume extra time for engine reversal. It also maintains punctuality unlike traditional passenger trains.
In view of rush and demands from passengers, the railways decided to augment one more AC-3 tier coach permanently in Howrah-Titilagarh-Howrah Ispat Express with immediate effect.