Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu flagged off the fourth Humsafar clan of trains and first Antyodaya clan of trains through video conferencing from Rail Bhawan:

1.      Train No 14715/14716 Sri Ganganagar - Tiruchirappalli Humsafar Express (Weekly) (via Krishnarajapuram, Pune, Ahmedabad)

2.      Train No 22877/22878 Ernakulam - Howrah Antyodaya Express (Weekly) (via Salem, Katpadi, Visakhapatnam)

He also launched the following policies:

1.      New Catering Policy 2017.

2.      New partnership in Parcel Business with Department of Post.

Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A. K. Mital, Member Traffic Shri Mohd Jamshed, other Railway Board Members, Secretary Department of Post Shri Boyapati V. Sudhakar and other senior officials were also present on the occasion

He also said that “Today we are launching the country’s first Antyodaya Express to be launched. Tejas and UDAY Express will be launched soon. Antyodaya Express is a long-distance, fully unreserved, superfast train service, for the common man to be operated on dense routes. Antyodaya Express will have facilities like  Cushioned luggage racks which can serve as seats  Additional hand holds in doorway area, J-Hook near longitudinal luggage racks, Multiple Unit cables at both ends of the coach, Vestibuled ends for internal movement of the passengers, Potable Drinking water dispenser, Mobile charging points, Fire Extinguisher with anti-theft lock, FRP (Fibre Reinforced Plastic) Modular Toilets, Pleasing interior colour scheme, Toilet Occupation indication display board, LED Lights, SS Slip-free flooring at Doorway & Gangway, Anti-Graffiti coating for exterior painting, etc.”

Antyodaya Express

Indian Railways introduced the first Antyodaya Express between Ernakulam and Howrah viz.  22877/22878 Ernakulam-Howrah Antyodaya Express (Weekly). The train service was inaugurated on 27.02.2017 by Minister of Railways through video conferencing from Rail Bhawan, New Delhi. As announced in Railway Budget 2016-17, Antyodaya Express are long-distance, fully unreserved, superfast train service, for the common man to be operated on dense routes.

 The abstract schedule including timings, composition, stoppages etc. of the train service to be introduced is as under:

22877/22878 Ernakulam-Howrah Antyodaya Express (Weekly)

●       Days of run:  Ex-ERS – Tuesday

                        Ex-HWH – Saturday

●       One way distance: 2307 Kms.

●       Stoppages: Kharagpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Khurda Road, Brahmapur, Palasa, Srikakulam Road, Vizianagaram, Duvvada, Rajahmundry, Vijaywada, Ongole, Renigunta, Katpadi, Jolarpettai, Salem, Erode, Coiambatore, Palakkad, Thrisur   

Composition of regular service: General Coach-20, Power car-2= 22 coaches

●       Primary Maintenance: Santragachi on RBPC (SER)

●       Nature of Service: Antyodaya Express