Touted as the first air-conditioned Double Decker in
south India, the train scheduled to operate between Bangalore and
Chennai, arrived here on Sunday afternoon as part of the trial run.

“The
test run was smooth and we did not encounter any hurdle except for a
small one while entering the Jolarpettai station,” said an official of
the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), Lucknow, which is
conducting the trial run.

He said the thermocol
pasted outside one of coaches brushed against the edge of the platform
at the entry from the Chennai-side. “This is a minor one which can be
addressed by smooth finishing the platform corner by an inch or so,” he
added.

The train left Chennai after the departure of Brindavan Express, around 8 a.m. and reached Bangalore city station at 3.15 p.m.

South Western Railway Senior Divisional Commercial Manager N. Ramesh told
The Hindu
that after the RDSO inspection, officials from the operations department
of Southern and South Western Railways would conduct another
inspection, before finalising the dates of the formal launch of the
service.

A regular electrical locomotive will haul
the coaches, and the specially designed and manufactured LHB coaches
arrived in Chennai just a few days ago from the Rail Coach Factory,
Kapurtala.

High demand

Despite
seven exclusive trains between Bangalore and Chennai, there has been a
huge demand for more services between the two cities.

The
double decker train could offer at least 40 per cent more accommodation
than conventional trains with a capacity of 120 seats per chair car as
against 78 seats in Shatabdi and 72 in Brindavan Express. With its 11
air-conditioned chair car coaches, the double decker train could
accommodate 1,320 passengers at a time.

The fares are
likely to be on a par or slightly higher than the Brindavan Express
chair car fares (Rs. 440 for adult and Rs. 250 for child).

The
Indian Railways has already announced the timings of the
Chennai–Bangalore–Chennai AC double decker train in the new timetable
with the train (no. 22625) leaving Chennai at 7.25 a.m. and reaching
Bangalore city at 1.20 p.m. and in the return direction the train
(22626) leaving Bangalore at 2.40 p.m. and reaching Chennai at 8.40 p.m.
The train has commercial halts at Perambur, Arakkonam, Katpadi, Ambur,
Jolarpettai, Bangarpet, Krishnarajapuram and Bangalore Cantonment.

Interiors

Though
called Double Decker, the coaches, in fact, have three levels of floors
— one at the platform entry level, lower deck and upper deck with
seating capacities of 22, 48 and 50 respectively. The coaches are fitted
with semi-reclining cushion seats and have power outlets for
laptops/cellphone charging.

Some other features
include GPS-based passenger information system providing real-time
running position, train speed and distance to the next station.