On July 1 when the Shatabdi express will start its journey from Mysuru, it will reach Bengaluru in less than 2 hours. The express which recently celebrated 25 years of its launch will thus create a record of a sort as the superfast train of India.
Shatabdi To Take 1 Hour 55 Minutes To Reach Bengaluru
The revised timings announcement by South Western Railway says that Shatabdi Express will cover the distance between the two cities in 1 hour and 55 minutes. The SWR official said, “The train will leave Mysuru at 2.15pm and reach Bengaluru at 4.10pm.”
Apart from Shatabdi express other trains that have been speeded up include the Chennai-Mysuru weekly superfast express (speeded by 10 minutes), newly introduced Kacheguda Express between Mysuru and Bengaluru (speeded by 15 minutes), and Hubballi-Bengaluru-Mysuru Vishwamanav Express (speeded by 15 minutes).
According to the PRO of SWR, E Vijaya, the travel time has been reduced due to multiple reasons including electrification and doubling of tracks.
Reduction In AC Chair Fare Led To More Number Passengers
Last year, SWR reduced the AC chair car fare in Shatabdi express to encourage more passengers to try traveling in the AC coaches. The SWS spokesperson said, “By reducing AC chair car fare in Shatabdi Express between Mysuru and Chennai via Bengaluru, we got the number of passengers to travel in the superfast train than bus or flight.”
Apart from Shatabdi Express, the fare of four other express trains were reduced at the same time. The SWR official said, “The response was encouraging when we introduced the lower fare in the weekly express for the first time a week ago (August 4).” The official further added, “The fares have been slashed as part of the dynamic fare fixing based on traffic pattern than on demand-supply ratio.”
Last year the Railway Board had also ordered other zonal railways to follow the dynamic fare fixing adopted by SWR on passenger traffic model in select trains so that more people could travel in trains.
