Tejas Express

This week Indian Railways have started Tejas Express, a 4 times weekly train from Mumbai to Karmali , Goa. This is state of art train, with modern facilities like wifi, tv, catering services, fully air conditioned. It has two class AC  Chair Car and Executive class.  The fares are Rs 1,310 for AC Chair Car and Rs 2,740 for Executive Class, the fares are inclusive of catering charges. The luxury features in this train are notch above Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.

The starting of train from Mumbai is very odd, it starts from Mumbai at 5.00am, it reaches Karmali at 1.30pm. It takes 8.5 hrs for the journey, while on return journey it leaves Karmali at 2.30 pm. I do not know what will be the schedule timings during monsoon, as in Konkan Railway sector they increase the duration of travel in monsoon season. In the case of Jan Shatabdi train in Mumbai -Madgaon sector,it is 2 hours more. This train  only stops at Dadar, Thane, Panvel, Ratnagiri and Karmali.

The initial response from the passengers is very good, and they have described the journey at par with trains in European countries. The train can achieve a max speed at 200 km per hour, but due to restriction of speed in Konkan Railway sector, it runs at slow speed.

The fares are very high as compared to AC Chair car of Jan Shatabdi Express, and it takes almost same time as of Jan Shatabdi, difference is only 10 minutes faster. It is to be seen  how the passengers react regarding fare structure, as during Goa’s tourist season time train will get booking but what happens in off season time only time will tell.

In between I have read a news item about few days back, if this train can not sustain itself in Mumbai Goa route, then they might shift it to Mumbai Ahmedabad route.