Chennai-Mysuru Shatabdi to get features-rich 'Anubhuti' coach

A lucky few commuters of Mysuru-Chennai Shatabdi Express will get to experience a journey of the higher standard from Friday as the railways has replaced one of its coaches with an Anubhuti coach.

The Anubhuti coaches are super luxury LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) coaches aimed at improving the journey experience on par with in-flight experience. They were first announced in 2013 Railway Budget.

With spruced up interiors, upgraded toilets and automatic hygiene-control systems, the coach offers modern amenities and will enhance commuters' travel experience. The lone coach in the Chennai-Mysuru train will have limited number of 50 seats.

The fare for the special journey is, however, fixed at 1.2 times of the Executive Class fare of Shatabdi trains. But seats remaining vacant at the time of first charting shall be offered for current booking at 10% discount on the last price.

Swarn treatment

The introduction of Anubhuti coach will set the ball rolling for the 'Swarn' project under which the railways is upgrading coaches with modern sophistication.

The idea is to improve the existing coaches with sophisticated interior and other facilities instead of replacing them with super luxury coaches.

South Western Railway Chief Public Relations Officer E Vijaya said one rake of Shatabdi and four rakes of Rajdhani Express (Train No. 22691/92) between Bengaluru and Delhi will be upgraded.

"We have set January-end as the target for the upgradation of four Rajdhani rakes, of which one rake has already been upgraded. One Shatabdi rake will also be upgraded shortly," she said.