Mumbai gets its first Amrit Bharat Express train service

Mumbai is getting its first Amrit Bharat Express train on Thursday To be operated between Saharsa Bihar and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Kurla it will be the countryrsquos third Amrit Bharat train after the DarbhangaAnand Vihar and Malda TownSMVT Bengaluru Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal The train will operate via Samastipur Muzaffarpur Danapur Buxar and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya formerly Mughalsarai stationsmidday had first reported about the arrival of the muchawaited unreserved lsquoJanata Vande Bharat trainrsquo for the general public in Mumbai on February 22 for extensive trials on the ghat sections of Igatpuri and Pune The Amrit Bharat Expressmdasha pushpull trainset with locomotives on either sidemdashis a class of superfast nonairconditioned lowcost sleepercum unreserved services connecting cities that are more than 800 km apartThe interiors of an Amrit Bharat train 50 such trains are being built at the Integral Coach Factory in ChennaiIt has a maximum operating speed of 110 to 130 kmph ldquoThe trainset provides improved facilities for betterdesigned seats and luggage racks for increasing volume mobile charging points with mobile holders LED lights CCTV a public information system and is a vestibule train With two locomotives attached on either side the train cuts down the time of reversal as it can move in either direction The trainsets are manufactured by Integral Coach Factory Chennai Production of 200 more such trains is in progress with 50 under construction and 150 more plannedrdquo an official saidldquoIm not surprised by the chosen destinationmdashitrsquos no wonder that the first Amrit Bharat Express from Mumbai is heading there However the Railways should have prioritised replacing trains with multiple locomotive reversals by deploying Amrit Bharat Express trains in pushpull configuration For instance trains like the 1140311404 KolhapurNagpur Express face as many as four loco reversalsmdashat Miraj Latur Road Parli Vaijnath and Akolamdashwhile the 1140511406 PuneAmravati Express via Latur has threemdashat Parli Vaijnath Latur Road and AkolaAll of these reversals could be eliminated with a pushpull setup resulting in a significant reduction in journey time potentially by a couple of hours Western Railway on the other hand has often rejected proposals for trains towards the interiors of Maharashtramdashincluding Konkan Western Maharashtra Vidarbha Marathwadamdashand even Southern India citing the loco reversal at Vasai Road as a constraintIronically these are precisely the routes where Amrit Bharat Express could have been most effective from the outset CR is concerned about the RatnagiriDadar train clashing with 12 suburban services which will overlap the path with suburban trains only between Vidyavihar and Matunga This SaharsaLTT will clash all the way from Kasara to Kalyan It will also clash between Kalyan and Thane if CR chooses to operate this from the 3rd and 4th line which is a common practice these daysrdquo commuter activist Akshay Mahapadi saidA regular commuter Piyush Sangapurkar who is a resident of Pune and a Solapur native said ldquoPassengers demand an increase in frequency of KolhapurNagpur Express via Latur daily with replacement of ICF rake with an Amrit Bharat rake as it would save four loco reversals which would save two hours Its currently running with more than 200 per cent occupancy It connects Pandharpur with Nagpur directlyrdquoAnother regular commuter Sriram Iyer said ldquoItrsquos really nice to see new variants of trains connect Mumbai to potential areas like Gorakpur Varanasi Patna Saharsa etc but Indian Railways should also focus on connecting Mumbai to Southern metros of Chennai and Bengaluru Both these cities are yet to be connected with a premium service The fastest train still takes around 22 hours for about 1300 km between Mumbai and Chennai and 1200 km between Mumbai and Bengaluru with a running average of merely 56 kmph The entire section is fully electrified and doubled with 130 MPS throughout yet the trains have been allotted a running TT dating decades back Itrsquos high time Indian Railways concentrates on strengthening services between MumbaiChennaiBengaluru with highspeed Vande SleeperAmrit Bharat type trainsrdquoldquoThe recently introduced route for the Amrit Bharat Express is quite underwhelming Instead of selecting a corridor that truly demands speed and operational efficiency the Railways chose a politically convenient and already wellserved route This was a missed opportunity to address longpending issues on routes severely impacted by multiple locomotive reversals and sluggish travel times particularly those running through Marathwada Vidarbha and Konkan via Western Railway Deploying Amrit Bharat Express on these corridors with a pushpull configuration could have delivered tangible improvements in journey time and passenger convenience Moreover this train will now occupy a valuable maintenance slot in Mumbaimdasha slot that could have been far better utilised for a Maharashtracentric service Itrsquos ironic that while the Railways claim constraints in terminal capacity they have yet to restore essential trains such as BhusavalMumbai Passenger KolhapurMumbai Sahyadri Express RatnagiriDadar Passenger PunePanvel Passenger BhusavalPune Express via PanvelKarjat Clearly paths slots route and terminal capacities do exist but theyrsquore being allocated elsewhere rather than being used to serve core intrastate routes in Maharashtra that are still awaiting restorationCommuter SpeakAkshay Mahapadi Commuter activistlsquoThe Railways should have prioritised replacing trains with multiple locomotive reversals by deploying Amrit Bharat Express trains in pushpull configuration For instance trains like the 1140311404 KolhapurNagpur Express face as many as four loco reversalsmdashat Miraj Latur Road Parli Vaijnath and Akolamdashwhile the 1140511406 PuneAmravati Express via Latur has threemdashat Parli Vaijnath Latur Road and AkolarsquoPiyush Sangapurkar Railway commuterlsquoPassengers demand an increase in frequency of KolhapurNagpur Express via Latur daily with replacement of ICF rake with an Amrit Bharat rake as it would save four loco reversals which would save two hours Itrsquos currently running with more than 200 per cent occupancyrsquoSriram Iyer Railway commuterlsquoItrsquos really nice to see new variants of trains connect Mumbai to potential areas like Gorakpur Varanasi Patna Saharsa etc but Indian Railways should also focus on connecting Mumbai to Southern metros of Chennai and Bengaluru Both these cities are yet to be connected with a premium servicersquoPrathamesh Prabhu ActivistlsquoThe recently introduced route is underwhelming Instead of selecting a corridor that truly demands speed and operational efficiency the Railways chose a politically convenient wellserved route This was a missed opportunity to address longpending issues on routes severely impacted by locomotive reversals and sluggish travel times particularly those running through Marathwada Vidarbha and KonkanrsquoatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params