Ahead of flag off, DRM inspects preparedness of Uday Express

Salem Divisional Railway Manager U. Subba Rao on Friday inspected the preparedness of the coaches of the double-decker Uday Express at the Coimbatore Junction yard, ahead of the flagging off of the Coimbatore-Bengaluru service on June 10 by Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain.

Though the coaches arrived in Coimbatore well before the Karnataka Assembly election, the poll code had held up the flag off. The Minister would also inaugurate Anthyodaya Train at Tambaram in Chennai the same day.

NMR round trip

The Salem Division has announced it would operate from June 2 a premium special for a round trip between Udhagamandalam and Ketti on Fridays and Saturdays as per the instructions of Southern Railway General Manager R.K. Kulshrestha during his recent inspection of NMR from June 2. The DRM said the round trip would be operated on a trial basis till July 2018, until further orders.

The trains will leave Udhagamandalam at 2.30 p.m. and reach Ketti at 3 p.m. In the return direction, they would depart Ketti at 3.30 p.m. and reach Udhagamandalam at 4 p.m.

The train would have a first class/second class combo coach with a capacity of 52 seats (16 for first class and 36 for second class) and a second class coach with a capacity of 30 seats. The fares between Udhagamandalam and Ketti (on both directions) are: ₹400 for first class and ₹300 for second class. Both fares include the welcome pack that will contain one samosa, a cup of vegetable soup, a cap with NMR emblem and a brochure on NMR -- all in a paper bag. A release said the Salem Division planned to continue the service depending on the occupancy.