Maligaon, December 25: The Northeastern region got the second “Humsafar”train of the country as Railway Minister Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhuflagged off the inaugural Kamakhya – Bangalore Cantonment Humsafar Express through video conferencing from Mumbai at 01.00 pm today. The Chief Minister of Assam Shri Sarbananda Sonowal and Railway Minister of State Mri Rajen Gohain were the guests of honourat a simple yet well-attended ceremony at Kamakhya station held forthe inaugural run.
Honourable MP, RS Shri Biswajit Daimari, MP LS SmtBijoya Charkravorty, Assam MLAs Shri Ramendra Narayan Kalita, Mr idulHazarika, Dimbeswar Das, Bimal Bora and Tapan Gogoi were also presentin the ceremony at Kamakhya which was attended by hundreds ofenthusiastic people.
While flagging off the train from Mumbai, the Railway Minister Mr Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said perceptible changes are taking place in Indian Railways in terms of delivery of quality service, progress of developmental projects and redressal of public grievances which all are component of Good Governance. He said, several developmental projects in northeast like doubling of railway lines, electrification and capacity augmentation have got fresh impetuous with active monitoring and participation of the government.
Mr Prabhu said, earlier the north-eastern region used to get the benefits of development at the last; but the scene has been reversed and the region now gets all the benefits first. He cited the example that the second Humsafar Express of the country has been flagged off today connecting northeast with Bangalore and lauded the Minister of State for Railways Mri Rajen Gohain for his active involvements. The Railway Minister also said that there are a host of developmental projects for northeast in the pipeline including development of Guwahati station as a World Class station.
The Minister of State for Railways Mr Rajen Gohain in his speech said,it had always been his endeavour to work for the people of region and railway has many proposal for removing infrastructural bottleneck of the region. Mr Gohain said, there are many proposal under consideration of the Railway Ministry including a second railway bridge near Saraighat Bridge, a new railway bridge at Silghat and boubling of the New Bongaigaon – Rangiya – Kamakhya railway line.
The Chief Minister of Assam Mr Sarbanada Sonowal thanked both Mr Suresh Prabhu and Mr Rajen Gohain for their initiatives in developing railway services like electrification and doubling etc. for the benefit of the people of the Northeast. He said, the future will see India shining through the Northeast.
Rajya Sabha MP Mri Biswajit Daimari and Lok Sabha MP Smti Bijoya Chakravorty also lauded the efforts of Mr Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu and Mr Rajen Gohain in providing more and more train services for the region and for undertaking several developmental works.
The all-AC affordable ‘luxury’ train for common man was announced in Railway Budget 2016. The train have all air-conditioned3-tier Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches developed by Alstom LHB GmbHof Germany and produced by Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala whichhave facilities like Global Positioning System (GPS)- based passengerinformation system, odour control system, fire announcement systemetc. which are not available in other AC 3-Tier coaches.
TheHumsafar Express is designed keeping comfort of passengers as primary goal and is incorporated with many new features to make travelluxurious but affordable. The seats are made more comfortable andlaptop & mobile charging points been provided next to each column of berths. A GPS-based display system at each end of the coaches shows real-time information about the exact location of the train andthe distance from the next station. The side berths have been provided curtains to enhance passenger privacy and Khadi linen wouldbe provided to passengers.
Each of the coaches of Humsafar Express has modern toilets with plushinteriors. The odor control system has been integrated with the toilet flush in such a way that each flushing releases perfumes. Apart from these, three odour control systems are also fitted across the aisle which releases perfumes periodically. In line with Indian Railway’s vision to keep tracks defecation free, the coaches have been fitted with bio-toilets.
The train has an extensive fire and smoke detection system with six CCTV cameras and 10 smoke detectors and four heat detectors fitted in eachcoach. The exterior of the train has an attractive visual appeal with anti-graffiti vinyl coating.
