Tejas Express, first 'private' train flagged off by UP CM Adityanath

In a boost to the Indian Railways, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday flagged off the Tejas Express which is the country's first private train run by the IRCTC and will run between Lucknow and New Delhi. The train is expected to cut the travel time between the two cities and will also provide state-of-art facilities. It will have only two stops between the New Delhi and Lucknow which will be at Kanpur and Ghaziabad.

Compensation for delays

UP CM Adityanath thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and also said that he hopes such initiatives are taken to connect other cities as well. Earlier today, Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal had tweeted announcing the commencement of the Tejas Express and also mentioned the facilities that the express would provide. 

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The Tejas Express is expected to bring down the travel time between Lucknow and New Delhi to six hours and fifteen minutes from the present six hours forty minutes taken by the Swarn Shatabdi which was the fastest train on the route. The Tejas Express will provide compensation for any delay, on an hourly basis, which has never been done before. It will provide Rs 25 lakh free insurance will be provided for each and every passenger and also provide infotainment and catering services. Officials were also quoted saying that if the experiment of handing over operations to IRCTC  is successful, the railways will make way for private operators to run trains in India. 

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Tejas Express Schedule

According to the schedule, the train will depart from Lucknow at 6:10 am and arrive at New Delhi Railway station at 12:25 pm. On its return journey, the train will depart from Delhi at 3:35 pm and reach Lucknow at 10.05 pm. The express will run on all days of the week except Tuesday. The Railway Board has already asked zonal railways to consider the feasibility of running private trains on 50 key routes, including Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah.

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