Vadodara: Mahamana Express train connecting Vadodara to Varanasi will cut distance between two cities by 7 hours, said Railway minister Piyush Goyal at Vadodara today adding that earlier the journey between Vadodara and Varanasi will take 34 hours while now it will take 27 hours. He also said the government will see whether it can be further cut by 3-4 more hours.

Goyal said the government has chosen around two dozen railway stations for reconstruction. Vadodara railway station is not in that list, but I have instructed the officials today to start working on Vadodara railway station reconstruction project in order to convert it to a beautiful world-class railway station.

Goyal said if new train attracts more passengers beyond its capacity, the government will increase its frequency. Reservation booking for current train opened just two days ago but 400 berths are booked from Vadodara itself.

Goyal assured that 3rd AC coach will also be added to this train soon.

He said Vadodara is going to get a training centre for bullet train. Vadodara will be one of stoppages on rout of Ahmedabad – Mumbai bullet train.

He said bullet train project will bring Rs 30-40,000 crore investment to the land of Gujarat. Earlier budget allocation for railways in Gujarat was Rs 600 crore while under Shri Narendra Modi as Prime Minister it has reached Rs 4000 crore.

Goyal along with MoS Railway Manoj Sinha earlier visited Surat railway station and inspected the cleanliness and other functionalities there. He was upset with improper functioning of escalator at railway station. It’s worth mentioning here that escalator at Surat railway station was not functioning for long time. It was repaired just yesterday in view of Goyal’s visit. However when Goyal tried to use it, it stopped midway.

DeshGujarat