Indian railways’ third corporate (private) train will run
between Varanasi and Indore via Ujjain. The train, named as Mahakal Express,
will connect three jyotirlingas – Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi; Mahakaleshwar
in Ujjain, and Omkareshwar in Indore.
It’s likely to begin operations from Mahashivratri on February 21. The train
was announced by railway minister Piyush Goyal in Indore on Sunday. It would be
the second private train from UP. The first one, Lucknow-New Delhi Tejas
express, was launched on October 4 last year.
Mahakal Express is among the 150 private trains that railways plans to roll out
gradually. The train would have facilities like Tejas Express for
passengers,” said chief regional manager, IRCTC Lucknow, Ashwini Srivastava.
Unlike Tejas Express which has only chair car, Mahakal Express may have berths for passengers’ convenience, given the 16-hour journey between Varanasi and Indore covering a distance of 1,130km.
Also, Mahakal Express new train may allow travel under ‘all-classes’, sleeper; AC 3 and AC 2. The rake, in that case, would be different from Tejas Express.
At present, private train Tejas Express runs between Lucknow and New Delhi. Another Tejas Express train would start running between Ahmedabad and Mumbai Central from January 17.