The Tejas Superfast Express, India’s first high-speed luxury train from Mumbai to Goa, was flagged off on Monday by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu at Chatrapati Shivaji Station in Mumbai.
The 20-coach train, which has both executive class and chair class, features amenities such as tea and coffee vending machines, magazine racks, snacks tables, Wi-Fi, and CCTV for the security of passengers. Each seat has a GPS-based display system with an infotainment system. The toilets feature touch-less water taps, hand dryers and bio-vacuum toilets.
It will travel at up to 130kph but can reach 200kph, India Today reported, and it will take less than nine hours to cover the 630km distance from Mumbai to Goa.
The train, No 22119, will run five days a week between Mumbai and Karmali in Goa. During the monsoon season, it will run three days a week. The train will depart from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Mumbai at 5 am every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from May 24 and arrive at Karmali at 1.30 pm on the same day.
It will leave Karmali at 2.30 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from May 23 and arrive at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Mumbai at 11 pm the same day, reported the Times of India.
A Mumbai to Goa one-way trip will cost Rs2,740 with food and Rs2,585 without food, while the fare for the ordinary chair car has been fixed at Rs1,310 with food and Rs1,185 without food.
The coaches were manufactured at the Indian Coach Factory in Chennai.
India needs a lot of transportation infrastructure. This is good news.