Double-decker Uday Express from next year

New Delhi, December 11

Come New Year, the Railways is all set to roll out Uday Express, its ambitious new long-distance double-decker train. The trains will run on three routes — Coimbatore-Bengaluru; Bandra-Jamnagar and Visakhapatnam-Vijaywada.

The Uday Express or the Utkrisht Double-Decker Air-conditioned Yatri Express was announced in the Railway Budget for 2016-2017 and is specially aimed at catering to business travellers.

Uday will join nine other double-decker trains in the Railways’ fleet.

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The trains are an improved variant of the normal AC double-decker chair car coaches with vinyl wrapping on exterior coaches, LCD type passenger information system on each deck, dining space on middle deck area with provision of automatic food vending machine and large LCD screens for infotainment in every third coach.

The train will have two bathrooms with bio-toilets.

“These trains will have 40 per cent additional passenger capacity and will ply on busy routes. So, it’s a great addition to our fleet,” an official said. The first Uday Express is likely to be first operational on the Coimbatore-Bangalore route. Officials said that it would depart at 5.40 am from Coimbatore to reach Bengaluru at 12.40 pm, taking a total time of seven hours.

For the return journey, the Bengaluru-Coimbatore Uday Express will depart at 2.15 pm from Bengaluru to reach Coimbatore at 9 pm, taking a total time of 6 hours and 45 minutes. — PTI