In the initial steps to beat the summer rush of passengers, the South Eastern Railway (SER) on Wednesday announced its first summer special train.
The 19-coach summer special will run from Santragachi to Delhi via Tatanagar once a week. It is equipped with three air-conditioned coaches, six sleeper class and the remaining general sections.
Railway officials at Garden Reach, headquarters of South Eastern Railway in Kolkata, said the train was introduced to meet the rush of passengers in Delhi-bound trains. It starts on April 8 and will make 12 trips till the end of June.
The train (08033) will depart from Santragachi in the morning every Monday and will stop at Tatanagar and Jharsuguda in the Chakradharpur division. The returning train will run every Tuesday.
“We are making special arrangements in view of summer rush. At present, we have received information from railway division about the scheduled running of the special train on Howrah-New Delhi route,” said a Tatanagar railway official.
Chotanagpur Passengers Association senior functionary UK Srivastava said the decision was laudable but also mentioned that trains travelling to Bihar should get extra coaches. According to sources, this may be taken up later, according to demand.