Double-decker train to hit tracks by March-end

After much delay, north India's first double-decker train is all set to be rolled out by the month-end. The trial run of the air-conditioned chair car train will start on March 14 - the day the Railway budget is presented in Parliament. Rajat Arora reports.

After much delay, north India's first double-decker train is all set to be rolled out by the month-end. The trial run of the air-conditioned chair car train will start on March 14 - the day the Railway budget is presented in Parliament.

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The first-of-its-kind train to ply between Delhi and Jaipur, announced in the last budget, was to start in July 2011. The service got delayed as it could not get a nod from the commissioner of railway security.

The high-speed train will have 50% per more seating capacity than Shatabdi Express. It will have 13 AC coaches. With each coach having a seating capacity for 128 passengers, the train can accommodate 1,650 people. A normal chair car train like Shatabdi can seat 800 people.

"There were many hiccups, but now the train is all set to go on tracks. The clearance got delayed. Also, the coaches could not be manufactured on time. The coaches are coming to Delhi in a couple of days and on March 14, we will have the first trial run," said SK Sharma, chief PRO, Northern Railways.

The train will leave Delhi's Sarai Rohilla station at 5.35pm and reach Jaipur by 10.05pm, stopping only at Gurgaon. It will depart from Jaipur at 6am.

"The coaches will be comfortable and have enough space for luggage. The double-decker coaches are about one to one-and-a-half feet taller than the conventional ones," Sharma added.

The coaches have been manufactured at the Railways' coach factory in Kapurthala, Punjab.