Enjoy the beauty of the rolling Western Ghat hills between Mumbai and Pune, especially during the monsoon, from the safety of a luxury train coach. The Deccan Express Special Train, which resumed its journey on June 26, now has a Vistadome coach attached to it. This train will run with a Vistadome coach for the first time on this route.
The glass rooftop and the wide glass windows of the coach fitted with rotatable and push back chairs give you an almost real life 360 degree view of the landscape.
Catch the clouds over the Matheran hills as the train chugs through Neral, the undulating landscape of Songir (near Palasdhari), the Ulhas River (near Jambrung), the Ulhas Valley, parts of Khandala and Lonavala, etc. Waterfalls and tunnels en route add a thrilling touch to the journey.
According to a release from the Central Railway, the 01007 Deccan Express special will leave Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus at seven in the morning daily and reach Pune at 11.05 am, same day. On the return leg, the 01008 Deccan Express special will leave Pune at 3.15 pm daily and arrive at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus at 7.05 pm same day. Hence, travellers can also complete a round trip the same day. Halts en route include Dadar, Thane, Kalyan, Neral (for 01007 only), Lonavala, Talegaon, Khadki and Shivaji Nagar.
Do note, only passengers with confirmed tickets will be permitted to board this special train, and will have to adhere to all norms, SOPs related to COVID-19 during the boarding, travel and at destination.
Prior to this, the Central Railway had added a Vistadome coach to the Mumbai-Madgaon Jan Shatabdi Express.
The Vistadome train on the Kalka-Shimla route has also resumed its journey recently.
The Indian Railways is planning to add more Vistadome coaches to other trains which run through scenic landscapes. According to latest media reports, the North-East Frontier Railway is planning to run two trains with Vistadome coaches. If all goes according to plan, the trains will be operational by August this year. One of the trains will run on the Siliguri Junction-Sevoke-Alipurduar Junction route in West Bengal and the other on the Lumding-Badarpur route in Assam.
Vistadome coaches have also been added to the famous Toy Trains of Darjeeling (formally known as the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway). The Visakhapatnam-Araku-Kirandul Express too runs with a Vistadome coach, which is extremely popular with travellers.
As the second wave of the pandemic appears to slow down, the Indian Railways is gradually restarting the major trains on its network.