OREANDA-NEWS. October 3, 2011. The Minister of Railways, Shri Dinesh Trivedi, will flag off country’s first air conditioned superfast Double Decker train at Howrah station New Complex tomorrow i.e. 1.10.2011, as a Puja gift. 12383 Up/12384 Dn. Howrah-Dhanbad Express(Double Decker) will run five days a week between Howrah and Dhanbad. This fully air-conditioned Double Decker train will have chair car coaches and will start from Dhanbad at 5.00 a.m. on every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and arrive at Howrah at 9.15 a.m. From Howrah, this train will start at 3.20 p.m. on every Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and reach Dhanbad at 7.40 p.m.

This train will consist of 9 coaches including 7 air-conditioned Double Decker chair cars having 128 seats in each coach and 2 generator cars. This train will stop at Barddhaman, Durgapur, Asansol, Barakar and Kumardhubi on both ways en-route. This train will have maximum permissible speed of 110 kilometre per houir and will run via Howrah-Barddhaman chord line. Introduction of Double Decker train was announced in Railway Budget earlier. Booking for this train will start from 30.9.2011 in all Computerized Reservation Counters.

The air-conditioned double decker coach design uses many superior technical features like aesthetically pleasing stainless steel body, high speed Eurofima design bogies with air springs for superior ride quality and many other safety related features. This coach is fitted with control discharge toilet system. The successful development of AC Double Decker train is a clear illustration of Indian Railways' capabilities in design and manufacturing.