Vistadome coach for Mangaluru-Bengaluru train from July 7

The Indian Railways will attach a Vistadome coach from July 7 to the day train number 06211/06212 between Karwar-Yesvantpur at Mangaluru Central station.

A train from Mangaluru to Bengaluru, which passes through the picturesque Western Ghats for more than 45 kilometres, will now have an additional feature. The Indian Railways will attach a Vistadome coach from July 7 to the day train number 06211/06212 between Karwar-Yesvantpur at Mangaluru Central station, according to a report in Udayavani on Friday.

The Vistadome coach will also be attached to the tri-weekly Mangaluru-Yesvantpur train from July 11. (Representative Image)

The Kannada language newspaper reported citing people familiar with the development that the coach will have 40 reclining seats that revolve 360 degrees. Bookings for this bogie will begin on July 3. The Vistadome coach will also be attached to the tri-weekly Mangaluru-Yesvantpur train (06575/06576) from July 11, the people cited above by the newspaper also said.

The Mangaluru-Bengaluru railway line is very scenic but people were not able to soak in the beauty of nature in the conventional railway coaches so far. The Shirady Ghat stretch begins at Nettana in Sullia taluk and ends at Sakleshpur in Hassan district, a stretch of 45km. Siribagilu, a station at the top of the Brahmagiri range, gives a 180-degree panoramic view of the Western Ghats.

The train will stop at Siribagilu for 10 minutes just to allow the passengers to view this scenery. The only other route that offers such a view is between Hubballi in Karnataka and Ponda in Goa. This line gives a view of the Dudhsagar falls.

People cited by the newspaper also said that they were expecting full booking for this facility. The fare for travelling on this coach will be equivalent to that charged for the executive class of Shatabdi trains of the Indian Railways.

Incidentally, the Indian Railways mooted the idea of introducing this coach in April this year but had to defer it due to the second round of lockdown that the government imposed due to a spike in Covid-19 cases. When the luxury train Golden Chariot was started in 2008, there was a similar proposal to run the train through the world’s biodiversity hotspot of the Western Ghats.