Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his two-day visit to Karnataka, flagged off the railway project- Palace Queen Humsafar Express train, which will run from Mysuru to Udaipur in Rajasthan, at Mysuru railway station today. Along with this, the Prime Minister also dedicated a 140 km long fully electrified railway line from Mysuru to KSR Bengaluru. According to some reports, for the very first time in the history of Indian Railways, the Prime Minister visited the Mysuru Railway station.
The Humsafar train is a all AC 3 tier train. The train is comprised of an electric locomotive and will connect the 5 Western Indian states namely, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Under the former railway minister Suresh Prabhu, each coach of Humsafar express got an upgradation of Rs 20 lakh. The train has been built, keeping in mind all passenger comforts including comfortable side berth seats, LED display, CCTV cameras, USB charging points among many other facilities.
According to the railway ministry, the electrification of railway line between Mysuru and KSR Bengaluru will be done at a cost of Rs 220 crores. The electric line will cover four major districts in Karnataka namely, Bengaluru, Ramanagaram, Mandya and Mysuru and is likely to benefit 25,000 passengers on daily basis, which includes 6,000 regular passengers.
As most of the time, flagging off of new railway projects are generally done by railway minister or by other senior railway officials, however, this time the Prime Minister himself launched the new luxurious train along with the electrified railway line at the Mysuru railway station.
Also Read! Humsafar Express: 15 facts that make Indian Railways’ new ‘luxury’ AC-3 tier train for common man super cool!
Earlier, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in his tweet mentioned that the projects will help Indian Railways to achieve energy efficient transport. In addition to this, it will also pave way for new vistas in tourism, the minister said.
The Humsafar train was announced by former Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu as a part of Railway Budget 2016 in order to give the common man a taste of “luxury”.