Railways to launch 53 new trains

New Delhi, Feb 26: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today announced launching of 53 new trains, extending 16 existing trains and increasing frequency of 11 trains.

Presenting the Railway Budget for 2008-09 in the Lok Sabha, he said this comprehensive package was aimed at meeting demands from various regions in the country. Of the 53 new trains, 18 will run on all days, 19 once a week, 2 twice a week and and 14 three-time a week. Attempting to further integrate various regions in the country, Mr Prasad announced a weekly express between Punjab and Kerala connecting the holy city of Amritsar with Kochuveli in Kerala's state capital of Thiruvanthapuram. Similarly, Patna will be connected with Vasco-de-gama in Goa through a weekly express via Konkan railway. Gaya, an important Bihar town, will get connected to Chennai, also through a weekly express. Notable among the 16 trains which have been extended are Bangalore-Coimbatore Express to Ernakulam and Mathura-Lucknow Express to Patna.

The New Delhi-Jammu Tawi Rajdhani Express, which now runs once a week, will become a daily train in the coming financial year.

Frequency of Amritsar-Saharsa(Bihar) Garib Rath and of Nizamuddin-Thiruvanthapuram Rajdhani Express have been increased from bi-weekly to tri-weekly. However, Mr Prasad proposed to make Varanasi-Rajgir Bhudh Purnima Express a daily train in the new financial year.Presently, it runs thrice a week.

Frequency tri-weekly Baripada-Bhubaneswar Express has been doubled to 6 days a week.

Mr Prasad said the Railways have decided to run special trains to faciliate journey of devouts from Anandpur Sahib and Patna Sahib to Nanded's Gurdwara Sachkahnd Sahib where tercentenary of Guru Granth Sahib Gurta Gaddi is being held this year. All three places are associated with 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.

The Railway Minister also announced special train between Delhi and Pune from October 12 to 18 when The Commonwealth Youth Games will be held in Pune as a prelude to the Commonwealth Games in the National Capital.

Following are the new trains: Daily Trains : Ramnagar-Delhi Link Express, Paradeep-Bhubaneshwar Express, Kendurjhargarh-Puri Express, Balharshah-Mumbai Link Express, Dehradun-Delhi Air Conditioned Express,Itarsi-Katni Passenger, Shoranur-Nilambur Road Passenger, Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur Passenger and Vasai Road-Panvel MEMU.

Daily Trains (after gauge conversion) Chennai-Rameshwaram Express via Mayiladuthurai-Karaikudi, Chennai-Tiruchchirapalli via Mayiladuthurai, Chennai-Salem Express via Vriddhachalam, Madurai-Tenkasi Passenger, Villupuram-Mayiladuthurai Passenger, Mysore-Nanjanaugud Town pasenger, Ahmedabad-Patan Passenger, Dabhoi-Prapnagar Passenger. Hijipur-Phulwaria passenger will become daily only after commissiong of the new line.

Weekly Trains: Chennai-Tiruchendur Express, Amritsar-Saharsa Jan Sadharan Express via Hasanapur, Asansol-Mumbai Express via Jasidih, Kamakhya-Gandhidham Express, Kochuveli-Dehradun Express, Amritsar-Kochuveli Express, Varanasi-Rameshwaram Express, Delhi-=Jogbani Link Express, Kamakhya-Gaya Express, Surat-Muzaffarpur via Adamgarh-Chhapra, Kolkata-Mushidabad Hazar Duari Express, Puri-Darbhanga Express, Yesvantpur-Jodhpur Express, Radhikapur-Delhi Express, Vasco-da-gama-Patna Express via Konkan railway, Bilaspur-Pune Express, Gaya-Chennai Express, New Dibrugarh Town-Yesvantpur express via Moranhat, Ahmedabad-Mumbai airconditioned Express.

Bi-Weekly Trains: Bhubaneshwar-Mumbai Express via Sambalpur and Amravati-Mumbai Express.

Tri-Weekly Trains: Hyderabad-Usmanabad Express, Ranchi-Chopan Express, Jaynagar-Saharsa Janaki Express via Hasanpur, New Dibrugarh Town-Kamakhya Express via Moranhat, Machallipatnam-Bangalore Express, Delhi-Pathankot Express via Amritsar, Malda Town-Patna Express via Bhagalpur, Indore-Udaipupr Express via Ratlam, Khajuraho-Delhi Link Express, Mathura-Chhapra Express, Gwalior-Indore Express, Udaipur-Delhi Chetak Express via Ajmer-Neem-ka-Thana, Ranchi-Bhagalpur Express via Kiul and Lucknow-DelhiAir Conditioned Express.

UNI