The first coach of the Railway's premium offering - the premium Tejas brand of trains - has been built at the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala and is expected to be put on trial soon. According to RCF officials, the coach will be sent to the Railway Board, which will decide where the 130 kmph coach will be tested. According to the current schedule, officials said the train is likely to be commissioned by the Railways in February next year. The Railways plan to make three such rakes, said officials.
One of the biggest challenges, officials said, would be fitting television screens on the back of the seats, a unique initiative that has not been done on Indian trains previously. However, it is yet to be ascertained how these enhanced features will perform at top speeds. Officials, however, said the first coach built, the pictures of which are available with dna, do not have TV screens fitted into the seats yet. The blue and yellow seats have an ergonomic design and provide a high level of comfort as compared to the seats fitted in the higher class coaches of trains currently.
The Tejas train is positioned for the business traveller who is willing to pay more for superior travelling comforts, said railway officials. The nine sectors identified by the Railways that will attract passengers for Tejas include Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Kanpur, Nagpur-Bilaspur, Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai, Mumbai-Goa, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Chennai-Hyderabad and Nagpur-Secunderabad. Officials said no specific route has been chosen for the Tejas rake.
