RailEnquiry

KOLKATA: Those planning a trip to Delhi or other locations in north India during the Pujas can travel in comfort. For the first time in recent years, Eastern Railway will run weekly special Rajdhani Expresses from Sealdah for vacationers. The Rajdhanis that will run on Fridays between October 19 and November 9 will accommodate 7,200 passengers."The Rajdhani Puja Specials will provide faster and comfortable travel in keeping with the festive mood. The passengers will be charged Rajdhani fares that will include food charges. The trains will stop at Dhanbad, Gaya, Mughalsarai and Kanpur. We are sure that these special Rajdhanis will be extremely popular," said Samir Goswami, CPRO, Eastern Railway.The Rajdhani Puja Special (03113 Up) will start from Sealdah at 6.40 pm and reach New Delhi at 11.05 am on Saturdays. In the Down direction, the trains (03114 Dn) will leave New Delhi at 8.05 pm on Saturdays (between October 20 and November 10) and reach Sealdah at 12.25 pm on Sundays. In this way, ER will run four pairs of these special Rajdhanis. Each train will have 18 coaches including an ACI class, three AC-II tier and 10 AC-III tier ones apart from two pantry cars and two generator cars."We ran special trains to the north every year but there was a feeling that this didn't meet the requirements of people who are used to travelling by Rajdhani Express. For such people, the fare is not a factor. In the past, many upper-class passengers either changed their travel plans or travelled by flight by paying slightly more. This year, we have given them an option to travel by train. There will also be regular Puja specials towards the north for those who don't wish to pay extra," an ER official said.

This year, ER will also run trains to destinations like Mumbai and Visakhapatnam. Normally, these destinations are only covered by South Eastern Railway (SER). Of the 56 special trains to be run by ER (apart from the Special Rajdhanis), 14 will run between Kolkata and Anand Vihar, Howrah and Lokmanya Tilak and Asansol and Visakhapatnam.

"SER will run its own special trains to various destinations. We are running trains towards Visakhapatnam and Mumbai for the benefit of passengers in the ER route. Till now, passengers from locations like Asansol would have to travel to Howrah for trains to Visakhapatnam or Mumbai. Now, they can travel by the special trains from their own locations. This year, we will generate 42,156 additional berths and 26,584 seats for vacationers," the official added.