Mahamana Express to Vadodara flagged off

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the third Mahamana Express running between Vadodara and Varanasi, the two parliamentary constituencies he had won in 2014, here on Friday.

While the PM inaugurated the first run of the train remotely from here, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal joined him via video link from Vadodara along with senior officials of the ministry.

The Modi government had unveiled the first rake of the Mahamana Express as part of Railways’ Model Rake Project in 2016.

The Mahamana Express with plush interiors -- built under the Make in India initiative -- currently runs on two routes, Varanasi-New Delhi and Bhopal-Khajuraho.

The 1,531-km journey between the two cities will take 27 hour 30 minutes at an average speed of 55.7 km/hr, officials said. 

Some special features of the Mahamana trains include modular panels, ergonomically designed ladders for climbing to the upper berths, aesthetically appealing toilet modules etc.

Mahamana Express is named after the nationalist leader Madan Mohan Malviya, who was also also addressed as Mahamana.