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Delhi-Agra bound Gatimaan Express to be upgraded to a swanky look

Delhi-Agra bound Gatimaan Express to be upgraded to a swanky look

Indian Railways’ fastest train– the Gatimaan Express, is gearing itself to become much more stylish and luxurious under the Indian railway’s scheme of ‘Operation Swarn’.

It may be recalled that Gatimaan Express runs at a speed at 160 km on the Delhi-Agra stretch, which is the highest for any train on the Indian Railways network. Though it runs has now been extended to Jhansi now.

Under its yet to start a scheme of facelifting the selected top trains, its the Gatimaan Express which has been honoured under ‘Operation Swarn. It is learnt that the semi-high speed train the Gatimaan Express will be upgraded by end of next month, i.e. August 2018.

A source in the Railways confirmed that August 31, 2018, is the target for upgrading Gatimaan Express. It will involve upgradation of a number of Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express trains. As per the Indian Railways’ standard, they will be upgraded to ‘Gold Standard’ at a cost of Rs 50 lakh per rake.

It was revealed by an official source that a sum of Rs. 2.50 crores were spent on manufacturing a coach of the VIP train when the train was flagged off almost two years ago.

Gatimaan Express is a premier train of the national carrier like Shatabdi trains, which has only chair car facilities in every coach. Since it was introduced in April 2016, its rakes are comparatively new and maintenance is of better quality. Under new operation, Indian Railways will work on about ten parameters which will be– cleanliness in the compartment, the comfort of the passenger facilities, punctuality of the train, conversion of toilets in modular systems, swanky interiors, entertainment on demand etc.

It is to be noted that the Gatimaan Express already offers a number of facilities for passengers besides the top speed factor. It ranges from cuisine to Wi Fi and stewards and hostesses like services, which we are accustomed in the air carriers.

The travellers of Gatimaan can expect the services mentioned below:

1. The interior area of the train, beginning from the doorway to the cabin, will get the anti-graffiti vinyl cover! This effort is a part of Indian Railways aim to keep the look of the compartments clean.

The colour scheme for the vinyl wrapping will be decided after keeping various options in mind.

2. The toilets will be upgraded to the state-of-the-art system. It will take care of the needs and liking of passengers and where they complain most about.

The floor material of the toilets will be converted to epoxy so that it can not retain any trace of water or some liquid. Their flushing system will be changed to a two-stage. The system will release an aroma whenever a passenger flushes the toilet. This step will ensure effective flushing and may avoid the stink.

3. The toilets will be equipped with modern soap dispensers, sanitary pad dispensers and improved type of taps.

4. A cleaning schedule for the toilets will be adhered to. It will also be displayed on the toilet doors.

5. The cabin area will remain illuminated with LED-backlit image hangings to enhance the overall interior look of the compartment.

6. Whenever the need is, the exterior of the train will get a paint-touch up. Additionally, the anti-graffiti vinyl covering will also be put up.

Initially, when the Gatimaan Express was flagged-off between Delhi and Agra, it used to cover the distance in 100 minutes between the twin cities. But later it was extended to Gwalior and then in April 2018, its run was extended to Jhansi as well.

Since the stretch from Agra to Jhansi via Gwalior, the rail network and infrastructure lacks certain parameters, the train’s speed is reduced to 130 km/hr.

Gatimaan Express begins its journey from Delhi’s Hazrat Nizammuddin station at 8:10 AM every morning and reaches Agra between 9:50-9:55 AM.

The train makes a halt at Gwalior at 11:16 AM and terminates at Jhansi at 12:35 PM.

On its return journey, the Gatimaan Express departs from Jhansi at 3:05 PM, arriving in Gwalior at 4:05 PM and at Agra at 5:45 PM. The train terminates at Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway station at 7:30 PM. With the proposed facelift, Indian Railways hopes to attract a lot more tourists to its premium train.

It does not run on Friday.

About Anirudh Singh

Anirudh Singh is a passionate blogger and the man behind Amazing India Blog. He has 5 years of experience in the newspaper industry and he founded Amazing India Blog in 2015. Apart from writing and editing articles on Travel, Business and Technology at Amazing India Blog, he also contributes to other well known newspapers and online news blogs.