Advance reservation for the Chennai-Bangalore and the
Bangalore-Chennai services will commence on Tuesday.
A formal launch date for the service had been pending for
weeks even after the Railway Ministry’s Research Design and Standards
Organisation had given clearance in March after conducting two sets of trials.
The RDSO had fixed a speed cap of 110 kph.
As the train will consist of 10 AC Chair Car coaches, the
Chennai-Bangalore fare has been pegged at Rs. 470. This is the same as the AC
chair car fares for other trains such as the Brindavan, Lal Bagh or Bangalore
express trains.
The Double Decker takes about six hours to cover the 362-km
distance between the two metro cities which makes it about ten minutes quicker
than the other morning train the Brindavan Express which leaves at 7.50 a.m.
and reaches Bangalore at 2 p.m. The quickest mode of travel is the Shatabdi
Express which covers the distance in five hours though those with a need for
speed will have to fork out a fare of Rs. 595.
The Train No.22625 Chennai Central – Bangalore City Double
Decker Express will leave Chennai Central at 7.25 a.m. and reach Bangalore City
at 1.30 p.m.
The return service, Train No.22626 Bangalore City - Chennai
Central Express will leave Bangalore City at 2.40 p.m. and arrive at Chennai
Central at 8.45 p.m.
The stoppages for the train are at Arakkonam, Katpadi,
Ambur, Jolarpettai, Bangarapet, Krishnarajapuram and Bangalore Cantonment. The Bangalore-Chennai train will also have a
stop at Perambur.
With each two-tiered chair car coach housing 120 seats —
much more than other trains on this route such as the Shatabdi (78) or the
Brindavan Express (72) — the Double Decker can peddle many more seats.
The larger pool of 1,200 reservation seats on a morning
train can be a boon for passengers on the heavily congested Chennai-Bangalore
route.
The Double Decker trains with trademark red-and-yellow
stainless steel LHB chassis also boast several technological features. The
coaches were built by the Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala on an anti-climbing
template that is a guarantee against a pile-up of coaches in the case of a
mishap. Some of the other features include a GPS-based Passenger Information
System that scrolls real-time running position, train speed and distance to the
next station, quickly operable emergency windows, air suspension system and
multiple shock absorbers for a smooth ride and fire extinguishers in all
coaches.
The primary maintenance of the Double Decker train, which
has coaches with a height of 4,366 mm and width of 3,050 mm as against the
conventional specs of 4,025 mm and 3,240 mm, will be carried out at the Basin
Bridge train care depot.
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