HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, May 17: The conventional ICF model rake of train no 02502/02501 (Agartala – Kolkata – Agartala) special has been converted to a fully air conditioned LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) rake and was flagged off on Wednesday from Agartala Railway Station at 07:30 hrs by Kumari Pratima Bhoumik, Union minister of state for Social Justice and Empowerment. Prem Ranjan Kumar, divisional railway manager, Lumding along with other senior officials of division were also present at Agartala Railway Station during the flagging off ceremony.
The train no 02502 (Agartala – Kolkata) special will depart from Agartala on every Wednesday for eight trips from May 17 to July 5, 2023 at 07:30 hours to reach Kolkata at 15:00 hours on the next day. In return direction, train no 02501 (Kolkata – Agartala) special will depart from Kolkata on every Sunday for eight trips from May 21 to July 9, 2023 at 21:40 hours to reach Agartala at 05:15 hours on Tuesday.
During its both ways journey, the special train will run via New Karimganj Jn., New Haflong, Guwahati, Goalpara Town, New Alipurduar, New Jalpaiguri Jn, Kishanganj, Malda Town, Azimganj Jn and Bandel Jn. The train will run with a revised composition consisting of 13 LHB coaches. It will have eleven state of the art AC-3 economy class coaches for the convenience of the passengers with two luggage cum generator coaches.
The newly converted coaches will be of LHB rake with AC-3 economy coaches which is safer and more comfortable as compared to the earlier ICF coaches. These coaches have improved and modular design of seats and berths. The AC-3 economy has 2 side berths, making it a total of 8 berths per compartment, thereby leading to increased number of seats. Moreover, the fare structure for AC-3 economy is roughly 8 percent less than 3 AC coaches. So, passengers can travel much cheaper than 3 AC coaches.
Further, the services of train no 02518/02517 (Guwahati – Kolkata – Guwahati) has been extended for another eight trips. The train no 02518 (Guwahati – Kolkata) special will depart from Guwahati on every Saturday for eight trips from May 20 to July 8, 2023 at 21:00 hours to reach Kolkata at 15:00 hours on the next day. In return direction, train no 02517 (Kolkata – Guwahati) special will depart from Kolkata on every Thursday for eight trips from May 18 to July 6, 2023 at 21:40 hours to reach Guwahati at 16:15 hours on the next day.
