India’s first-ever private train service under the Bharat Gaurav scheme started its maiden service and flagged off on Tuesday from Coimbatore to Shirdi of Maharashtra.
Around 1100 passengers boarded the maiden round trip service from Coimbatore to Shirdi, the ministry said.
“Railways has leased this train to a service provider for a period of two years. It has a total of 20 coaches including first-, second-and third-class AC coaches and sleeper coaches,” Southern Railway’s CPRO, B Guganesan, stated.
“Promoting India’s rich cultural heritage,” while announcing the train’s inaugural run, the Ministry of Railways published several images to its Twitter account.
It tweeted “Southern Railway becomes the first zone to get its first Registered service provider under the ‘Bharat Gaurav’ Scheme & commence operations of the maiden service from Coimbatore North to Sainagar Shirdi (sic).”
A company called South Star Rail is in charge of this private train.
According to an official announcement, the train will be maintained by housekeeping service providers who will clean the utility areas at regular intervals and caterers who are experienced in providing a vegetarian menu.
Although some people were fortunate about the new train, others were skeptical of the government’s decision to collaborate with a private enterprise on the project.
