The city’s newest Rajdhani Express will have its inaugural run on Saturday and will be flagged off by Union Minister for Railway Piyush Goyal. The Rajdhani will be the third from the city and the first to run from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). The other two originate from Mumbai Central.
The bi-weekly train will run from CSMT on Wednesday and Saturday and from Hazrat Nizamuddin on Thursday and Sunday, Chief Public Relations Officer, Central Railway, said. Bookings for the Rajdhani Express will open on January 18.
The new Rajdhani will have only 15 coaches as opposed to 18 in the other two, on account of the ghat section that the train will have to negotiate at Kasara.
On Saturday, the train will depart from CSMT at 2.20 p.m. and arrive at Hazrat Nizamuddin at 10.20 a.m. on Sunday. The train will halt at Kalyan, Nasik, Jalgaon, Bhopal, Jhansi and Agra.
Mr. Goyal will also be inaugurating a slew of recently-concluded projects, including the electrification of Pen-Roha section, solar plants at various stations and foot overbridges at various stations.
The new Rajdhani will provide relief to hundreds of commuters on the central suburbs whose only option was to go to Mumbai Central earlier to travel by a Rajdhani. “We are overjoyed that this long standing demand has been met. Commuters who live in suburbs such as Karjat can now easily board a Rajdhani from Kalyan. We hope in the coming days the service becomes a daily one,” Nitin Parmar, railway activist said.