Eastern Railway flags off 'Dollar Express'

New Delhi, Oct 15 (UNI) For the first time, Eastern Railway is running a special train -- 'Howrah-Delhi Dollar Express' -- to cope with the rush of passengers during the ongoing festive season and earn some fast buck by giving its branding rights to a private company.

A total of 22 'Puja Special' trains will run between Howrah and Delhi up to November 19.

The first in the series -- Howrah-Delhi superfast bi-weekly 'Puja Special'train (0231 Up) was flagged off by Jayanta Kumar Saha, Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Eastern Railway, from Howrah station on October 13.

This train will stop at Asansol, Dhanbad, Koderma, Gaya, Sasaram, Mughalsarai, Vindhyachal, Allahabad, Kanpur and Delhi on both ways.

The Railways has decided to brand the train as 'Howrah-Delhi Dollar Express' because a Kolkata-based textiles company -- Bhawani Textile Ltd -- has been given a branding right for these trains.

The arrangement will enable the company to advertise its products while the Railways will earn a tidy amount, though not necessarily dollars! The Railways had earlier run a train - Kurkure Express - by giving its branding right to PepsiCo, but the experiment of changing the name of a train did not find favour with the authorities, and the plan was dropped altogether.

UNI