Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw along with Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Monday flagged off the Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express with Tejas coaches from here and announced that Odisha will get the second Vande Bharat express train soon.
Monday’s operation was a trial run and the train will run as Rajdhani-Tejas Express from August 19.
Addressing a gathering at the Bhubaneswar railway station, Vaishnaw said the second Vande Bharat train service between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar will begin soon.
It will pass through Sundergarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Angul, Talcher and other places,” he said.
“While flagging off the first Vande Bharat Express between Puri and Howrah on May 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised another semi high-speed train for Odisha. In keeping with that promise, the second Vande Bharat will run soon from Rourkela to Bhubaneswar,” Vaishnaw said.
The Railway Minister said Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Tejas Express will have ultra modern facilities like automatic entrance doors, passenger announcement/passenger information system (PA/PIS), fire and smoke detection and suppression system, CCTV cameras, improved lavatory, vacuum assisted flushing with bio-toilets, superior toilet fittings, touch free soap dispenser, sealed vestibules, LED lights and an aesthetic colour scheme.
The Tejas rakes are for better travel experience for passengers on long-distance journeys and for enhanced comfort for them. They can run at a maximum speed of 160 kmph, railway official here said.
With the introduction of the Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani-Tejas Express, the number of the semi-high speed train service in the country will increase to five. The first Rajdhani train upgraded with Tejas rake was introduced in July 2021 on the Delhi-Mumbai route. The others are Agartala-Anand Vihar Rajdhani Express, Mumbai-Nizamuddin August Kranti Rajdhani and Rajendra Nagar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express.
During its journey between Bhubaneswar-New Delhi, the train will have 13 stoppages Cuttack, Bhadrak, Balasore, Hijli, Tata Nagar Junction, Muri, Bokaro Steel City, Gomo, Koderma Junction, Gaya Junction, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, Prayagraj Junction and Kanpur Central, the official added.
Speaking on the occasion, Viashnaw said the Narendra Modi government was giving maximum importance to rail infrastructure development in Odisha. While only 53 km of rail route was constructed annually till 2014, it is now 459 km per annum. The NDA government has also raised the rail allocation for Odisha from Rs 800 crore in 2014 to Rs 10,000 crore in 2023.
This apart, Vaishnaw, who is also the telecom minister, said the number of mobile towers in Odisha was just 7562 in 2014 and has increased to 26,512 in 2023.
Vaishnaw, is on a two-day visit to Odisha, inaugurate a train management centre at Khurda Road station and review works of East Coast Railway and postal and telecom departments.
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