Berhmapur, June 22: In a bid to avoid heavy rush on passenger trains, the state’s first Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) train was chugged out of Brahmapur railway station amid much fanfare by the East Coast Railway (ECoR) here Friday.
The much awaited MEMU train has replaced the Brahmapur-Cuttack-Brahmapur passenger train. The train will start off at 7:30 from Brahmapur and will reach Cuttack at 11:00 AM.
The train number and name have been changed to 68434/68433 Brahmapur-Cuttack-Brahmapur MEMU in place of the 58434/58433 Brahmapur-Cuttack-Brahmapur Passenger.
The train with 12 coaches will be running between Brahmapur and Cuttack, six days a week as per the schedule of the Brahmapur-Cuttack-Brahmapur fast passenger train.
Similarly, the train will run as Brahmapur-Khurda Road MEMU Special from Brahmpur to Khurda Road at 9.30pm Saturdays. Moreover, it will run as the Khurda Road-Brahmapur MEMU Special from Khurda Road to Cuttack at 11.45pm Sundays.
The train can accelerate and decelerate faster than other trains. The 12-coach rake with each coach having a capacity of 110 passengers was built by the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala.
As the MEMU train has engines at both ends, it will not take additional time to change the engines, an official said.
The railway zone has a plan to introduce the service in other sections, but this will be subject to passenger feedback, the official said.
“The new train will run six days a week as per the schedule maintained by the Brahmapur-Cuttack-Brahmapur Passenger train. Since the train has engines at both ends, it will not consume extra time for engine reversal. It will also maintain punctuality unlike traditional passenger trains,” an ECoR official stated.
Meanwhile, the timings of the Bhadrak-Cuttack passenger train have been revised. The train from Bhadrak will leave at 1.05pm instead of 1.45pm from June 23. It will arrive at Cuttack at 4.30pm instead of 5pm. The timings of the Bhadrak-Cuttack passengers at other scheduled stations will also be revised, officials said.
PNN