Varanasi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off the super posh Mahamana Express that will run between Varanasi to Delhi via Lucknow.
Passengers will now have to pay more for travelling on New Delhi-Varanasi superfast Mahamana Express as the Railways has raised the fare by 15 per cent.
The thrice-a-week train with refurbished coaches and added facilities will take less than 14 hours to cover the journey between Delhi and Varanasi.
Since the facilities and other amenities are substantially improved in the AC and Sleeper coaches on the train at an increased cost, there was a need to increase the fare by 15 per cent for the new service, a senior Railway Ministry official said today.
Railways plan to introduce two more such trains in the near future.
The New Delhi-Varanasi Tri-Weekly Superfast Express will depart from New Delhi station at 6.35 PM every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from January 25 and will reach Varanasi at 8.25 AM the next day.
The train will depart from Varanasi at 6.35 PM every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from January 26 to reach New Delhi at 8.25 AM the next day.
Equipped with features like controlled discharged water tap, new toilet modules, exhaust fans, LED lights, snack tables for side berth passengers and use of fire retardation materials, 18 coaches comprising AC-1, AC-2, Sleeper Class and General Class bogies were recently showcased by railways here.
According to Railways, this is a step towards providing better amenities to passengers. A total 111 coaches will be refurbished by railways at the Carriage Rehabilitation Workshop in Bhopal.
Consisting of one First AC, one AC II Tier, Nine sleeper class, four General Class & two second class-cum-luggage van coaches, the 22418/22417 New Delhi-Varanasi-New Delhi Tri Weekly Superfast Express train will stop at Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Bareilly, Lucknow, Sultanpur and Jaunpur City stations en-route in both directions.
According to the official, ticket booking in Mahamana Express will open from tomorrow.
As for added facilities, the coaches are being provided with ergonomically designed ladders for climbing up to upper berths in all sleeper coaches, aesthetically designed toilet modules have been provided with enhanced passenger amenities like a biggger mirror, platform washbasin, controlled discharged water tap, odour control system, passenger address system and GPS-based passenger information system.
Know more about the Mahamana Express train here:
Slamming opposition for making continuous attacks on the leader, Modi said that those making such attacks, want to deviate him his path of working for the nation and they want to drag him in controversies.
He added, “This is happening because system is changing. Nuts and bolts are being tightened in such a way that shops of mediators are getting closed. That is why they are having problems. But I am not concerned with their problems. I am concerned towards poor condition of needy people.”
