Railways to launch historic non-stop trains

MAMATA BANERJEE TO FLAG OFF FIRST ‘DURONTO’ SEALDAH - NEW DELHI ON 18th SEPTEMBER

Indian Railways will add one more feather to its cap when it launches its new class of passenger carrying ‘Duronto’ trains on the next Friday, September 18, 2009. ‘Duronto’ will be the first ever non-stop superfast passenger carrying train in the history of the Railways and will herald a new era of rail travel in the country ensuring better speed, comfort and security for passengers. ‘Duronto’ trains will be non-stop and take passenger from end to end. It means that passengers will not be allowed to embark or disembark at the intermediate stations. ‘Duronto’ will be of two types, one is fully air-conditioned reserved train and other is air-conditioned and non air –conditioned combo reserved train. Outer colour scheme and design of ‘Duronto’ coaches is distinct from the entire population of coaches of Indian Railways. The fare of the ‘Duronto’ trains will include the cost of meals.

The introduction of this class of trains was announced for the first time in the Railway Budget 2009-10 speech delivered in the Parliament by the Minister of Railways Kumari Mamata Banerjee in July this year.

Kumari Mamata Banerjee will flag-off the first train in this series at Sealdah station in West Bengal on September 18, 2009 which will reach its destination, New Delhi Railway Station, the next day i.e. on September 19, 2009. The second ‘Duronto’ train will be flagged-off by the Minister of Home Affairs, Shri P.Chidambram from Chennai on 18th September, 2009 which will reach Nizamuddin Railway Station, the next day i.e. on September 19, 2009. When these 2259/2260 Sealdah-New Delhi and this 2269/2270 Chennai-Nizamuddin ‘Duronto’ trains chug out from their originating stations, their moving wheels will be writing a new chapter in the realm of rail travel which would change the country’s travel scenario in a big way.

The Sealdah-Delhi ‘Duronto’ will be fully air-conditioned and a fully reserved train and will cover the distance of 1,454 kms. between Sealdah and New Delhi in around 1630 hours which will be around 1.30 hours less than the corresponding Rajdhani train running on the same route. The train will have one AC-I coach, three AC-II coaches, four AC-III coaches and five economy AC-III Coaches besides a pantry and generator car. With the launch of this ‘Duronto’, a new AC travel class called ‘Economy AC-III’ is also making its debut on Indian Railways.

In the Sealdah-New Delhi sector, this train on its regular run will leave Sealdah every Thursday and Sunday at 6.40 P.M. and reach Delhi the next day at 11.00 A.M. In the reverse direction, the train on its regular run will leave New Delhi station every Friday and Monday at 8.05 P.M. and reach Sealdah the next day at around 12.25 P.M.

Initially, 2269/2270 Chennai-Nizamuddin non-stop ‘Duronto’ will be introduced as a weekly train, leaving Chennai on its regular run every Monday and Nizamuddin every Tuesday. In the Chennai-Nizamuddin sector, the train on its regular run will leave Chennai at 6.40 A.M. and reach Nizamuddin the next day at 10.35 P.M. In the reverse direction, the train will leave Nizamuddin at 4 P.M. and reach Chennai the next day at 8.10 P.M. The fully reserved train will have both air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned coaches which will include two AC-II+AC-III combo coaches, two AC-III coaches and 8 Sleeper class coaches.

The booking for the inaugural run and the subsequent regular runs will start across all PRS centres on a date to be notified by the respective zonal railways. The notified date will fall prior to the date of inauguration i.e 18th September 2009.

(photograph of colour scheme of ‘Doronto’ trains’ coach is available at PIB website i.e. www.pib.nic.in )

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(Release ID :52562)