India’s first semi high speed train between Delhi and Agra from Apr 5
02 April,Agra
The much awaited country’s first semi high speed train Gatimaan Express is all set to be flagged off on April 5.Railway minister Suresh Prabhu will flag of the train on April 5 from Nizamuddin railway station in Delhi.On the inaugural day, the train will start its journey at 10 am and reach Agra Cantt station at 11.40am.
The Delhi-Agra Gatimaan Express, the first train in India to run at a speed of 160 kmph, is expected to cover the 200 km distance in 100 minutes.According to officials of the Agra divisional railway manager’s office, the train will ply six days a week, except on Friday, from Agra Cantt station at 5.50pm and reach Delhi at 7.30pm. Likewise, from Nizamuddin station the train will start at 8.10am and reach Agra Cantt at 9.50am.
Officials said Gatimaan Express will have best possible services matching the flight services in catering. Like flights, there will be hostesses on the train and catering will also match the standard of airliners and passengers will be greeted with flowers.
Since the fare will be 25 per cent higher than Shatabdi Express, catering services in Gatimaan Express will also be better.
Both Indian and continental cuisine will be served. Passengers will have an assortment of food to choose from. There will be whole wheat upma, minidosa, Kanjeevaram idli, fresh cut fruits,aloo kulcha with Swiss roll, roasted dry fruit and chicken roll. Chicken sausages with Spanish egg white omelette and date walnut slice cakes will also be served in bone china crockery.
The train will have a high-power emergency braking system, automatic fire alarm, GPS-based passenger information system and sliding doors in the coaches.
The fare for chair car in the fully air conditioned Gatimaan Express has been fixed at Rs 690, while a passenger will be required to spend Rs 1,365 for travelling in executive class. In the Delhi-Agra Shatabadi Express, the chair car fare is Rs 540 and Rs 1,040 for executive class.
Indian Railways plans to roll out nine more such trains on other routes, including Kanpur-Delhi, Chandigarh-Delhi, Hyderabad-Chennai, Nagpur-Bilaspur, Goa-Mumbai and Nagpur-Secunderabad.