Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Palace Queen Humsafar Express train, which is will ply between Mysuru and Udaipur, at the Mysuru Railway station on Monday, 19 February.
Modi, who is on a visit to Karnataka for two days, also reportedly dedicated a 140 km long fully electrified railway line from Mysuru to KSR Bengaluru, reports Financial Express.
According to the report, the train, which is comprised of an electric locomotive, will connect the western states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The project was approved between 2007-2008, reports The Hindu, and was originally estimated to cost approximately Rs 878 crore. However, the report adds, the actual cost of the project turned out to be Rs 990, out of which Rs 210 crore went in the cost of electrification itself.
The state government, the report adds, contributed about Rs 581 crore.
According to Financial Express, the train comprises of all the modern facilities such as comfortable side berth seats, LED display, CCTV cameras, and USB charging points.
As reported by Mint, Modi’s inauguration of the Palace Queen Humsafar Express train comes a few days after Congress president Rahul Gandhi visited the six districts in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region in order to gather votes for his party in the upcoming Assembly elections that are to take place later this year.
The upcoming elections will be extremely important for both the BJP and the Congress, since it is just a little ahead of the Lok Sabha polls that are to take place in 2019.
While the flagging off of new railway projects is usually done by the Railway Minister or senior officials affiliated with the Indian Railways, Prime Minister Modi was keen to take on the responsibility for this particular project, which is likely to benefit 25,000 passengers on a daily basis, Financial Express said.
(With inputs from Financial Express, The Hindu and Livemint)
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