Beginning Saturday, passengers on the Chennai-Mysuru Shatabdi are in for a treat. With in-built entertainment and WiFi, passengers can now watch movies on-board their 7-hour journey.
Unveiled as part of Project Swarna, the Ministry of Railways’ project to improve passenger experience on Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains across the country, the Chennai Mysuru Shatabdi also promises more leg room for its passengers. Swarn is meant to be the gold standard for passenger railways in India.
The C-1 coach of the Chennai - Bengaluru - Mysuru Shatabdi is now what is called the ‘SWARN AC Chair Car.’ For now, only one coach in the Shatabadi offers the in-built entertainment system, but will be expanded to cover the other compartments as well.
The new features include infotainment provided by Magic Box, a Delhi based company. Passengers travelling with laptops and cell phone can connect to the Magic Box website and watch over 100 films and television programs in regional languages as well as English.
In addition to these, the coach also has vinyl wrapping in the toilet area, the exit points as well above the luggage rack. In a much-needed relief to commuters, the railways has also installed micro-burst fragrance in the toilet to get rid of the foul order. While LED coach indicators can also be found, there are LED reading lights for those who would like to curl up with a book.
However, passengers cannot connect to the Internet for browsing.
For visually challenged persons, the Railways has decided to install Braille signages.
CCTV cameras are also to be installed for the safety of commuters.
According to a report in the Times of India, the Basin Bridge coach care centre has begun the modification of the air conditioned coaches, which could take up to 5 days per coach.
In a statement to the press, PA Dhananjayan of the Southern Railways said, “The average cost for upgrading a coach as ‘Swarn’ coach is Rs.10 lakhs.” In what is sure to come as a relief to passengers, the ticket prices remain unchanged.
The upgraded amenities by the Indian Railways is sure to give commercial flights a run for their money.