The Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh flagged off the Air-conditioned Double Decker Bi-weekly superfast express train No.12584/12583 between Anand Vihar Terminal and Lucknow Jn. from Anand Vihar Terminal station, here today. The Union Railway Minister, Shri Suresh Prabhkar Prabhu presided over the function. Minister of State for Railways, Manoj Sinha, the Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), Shri Mahesh Giri and senior Railway officials were also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion,Rajnath Singh appreciated the Railways for providing a convenient and popular service between Delhi and Lucknow. He also requested the Railway Minister for providing services of Double Decker train daily and also examine the possibility of shifting the train to originate from New Delhi Railway station instead of Anand Vihar Terminal.Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Shri Suresh Prabhu said that the Double Decker coach which has been designed in-house and manufactured at Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, a Production Unit of Indian Railways, is a noteworthy achievement. The Railway Minister said that the design of the Double Decker coaches was a mighty challenge for the Railways as the entire Rail network and coach designs need to meet standard dimensions in length, breadth and height as per bridges, overhead electricity wire, tunnels, etc. It is not feasible to either enhance the width of the coach or increase its height.
In keeping with these limitations, the railway officials worked out the design to enable accommodation of 120 passengers in the new coaches instead of 78 passengers in the existing chair cars of Shatabdi type. This makes the air-conditioned Double Decker production a major achievement. More Passengers can thus travel at most reasonable costs with the comfort of air-conditioned travel. Shri Prabhu said that the coaches of this AC Double Decker are made of stainless steel, which reduces the weight of the coaches. In keeping with the safety of the services, the coaches are designed with anti-climbing technology and have crash-worthy shells. Through the air springs in these coaches, passengers can derive greater ease and comfortable in travel, he said. Shri Prabhu reiterated the commitment of the Indian Railways in delivering greater convenience to its passengers while keeping costs for these increased comforts minimal to the traveler. He also congratulated all the officers and staff of the Indian Railways for their zeal to deliver such convenience and comfortable mode of travel to the public.