Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the country's third Mahamana Express train from his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi on September 22 during his two-day visit to the city. The train will run from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to Vadodara in Gujarat.
Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal will be present in Vadodara on September 22 while Manoj Sinha, junior railway minister, is likely to be present in Surat. PM Modi will flag off the train using a remote control, senior railway officials were quoted by PTI as saying on Tuesday.
The Centre had unveiled the first rake of the Mahamana Express as art of the Model Rake Project of the Indian Railways in 2016. The train has been built under the Make in India initiative. It presently runs on two routes — Varanasi-New Delhi and Bhopal-Khajuraho.
The new Mahamana Express will run from Varanasi and Vadodara every Friday and Wednesday respectively. The journey, which covers a distance of 1,531 km, will take 27 hours and 30 minutes to complete at an average speed of 55.7 km/hr, ministry officials said.
The train will stop at Bharuch and Surat in Gujarat; Amalner and Bhusawal in Maharashtra; Itarsi, Jabalpur, Katni and Satna in Madhya Pradesh; and Chheoki in Uttar Pradesh.
The Mahamana Express train has been named after former Hindu Mahasabha president Madan Mohan Malviya.
Features and facilities of the Mahanama train
The train, which consists of 18 coaches, boasts of features like modular panels, ergonomically designed ladders to help people climb on the upper berths, aesthetic toilet modules with mirrors, platform washbasins, exhaust fans, controlled discharged water tap, odour control system and dustbins inside all toilets.
The train also has LED lighting across all coaches. The reserved coaches of the train are also equipped with special berth indicators-cum-night-light to help passengers who board the train at night.
The train is also equipped with fire extinguishers in all coaches, electrically operated chimney in pantry car and stainless steel panelling in the luggage compartment.
The train, which boasts of swanky interiors, was designed by Hindustan Fibre Glass based in Vadodara. The model rakes are a "refurbished and re-adapted" version of seven types of coaches being used by the Indian Railways for about 10-12 years.
The 18 coaches include one AC 1st class, two 2nd class AC, eight sleeper, four general, one pantry car and two guard brake vans. There is no AC-3 tier coach in the train.
