Central Railway (CR) will undertake refurbishing of coaches of two major trains in the Mumbai Division: the Deccan Queen Express and the AC Double Decker Express, which run between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Pune Junction and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and Madgaon respectively. The trains will be upgraded under Project Utkrish.
“We are aiming to introduce the upgraded coaches of the Deccan Queen Express by August 15. We are targeting the introduction of the Double Decker coaches around Diwali,” said Divisional Railway Manager in charge of the Mumbai Division, S.K. Pankaj. CR has four more trains in other divisions: Mumbai-Amravati Express, Mumbai-Solapur Express, Nagpur Duronto and Pragati Express, that have been included in the project.
The upgrade is expected to cost ₹60 lakh for each train and will contain amenities along the lines of Humsafar Express, complete with LED lighting, bio toilets and Braille signage.
“We will be adapting the design of Humsafar Express. It won’t completely replicate it as the former was built from scratch, whereas here, we will be making modifications. In addition to this, we will also have a GPS-tagged biometric attendance system of the staff on these trains,” Mr. Pankaj said.
