Travel between Mumbai and Delhi is likely to be more comfortable as the western railway (WR) plans to start a Rajdhani type train between the busy Mumbai-Delhi corridor starting January 26. Passengers will be able to travel on confirm tickets.

On the lines of the two existing Rajdhani trains -- Rajdhani Express and August Kranti Rajdhani, the proposed special Rajdhani train will run on a regular basis on the same route from Mumbai Central at 3.30 pm to reach New Delhi at 7.30 am. On its return journey, the train will leave New Delhi at 2.30 pm and reach Mumbai Central at 7 am. The train will provide similar services and facilities as the present Rajdhani trains.

“The existing Rajdhani trains ran with 18 coaches until November last year. But after the extension of platform and remodeling of yard at Mumbai Central, both the trains now run with 21 coaches with an additional one AC-II tier and one AC-III tier coach on a permanent basis while the class of remaining one coach will be decided based on demand,” said Vinay  Mittal, chairman, railway board. Mittal was in Mumbai to carry out a safety review meeting with the senior officials of Western, Central, South Western and Konkan Railway.

Since WR could not have brought in the new train unless it was part of railway budget announcement, it has been introduced as special Rajdhani train. Once it becomes a part of railway budget announcement for 2013-14 and a regular service, it will cease to be classified as a special service train. The idea for new train was pushed by WR general manager Mahesh Kumar to find a solution to the problem of huge waiting lists for these trains.

Speaking on the proposed elevated Churchgate -Virar corridor slated to come up at the cost of Rs 20,000 crore on Public Private Partnership model, Mittal said the railways is awaiting Maharashtra government’s response.

On another corridor linking Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus with Panvel, Mittal said Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation has already prepared its project report and submitted it to the state government. "Once the Maharashtra government examines and approves the report it will be submitted to the railways ministry."

After inspecting the Mumbai-Surat stretch of the Dedicated Freight Corridor, the railway board chairman expressed confidence that the entire construction work on all 54 bridges in the section will be completed by 2014.