New Delhi: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today flagged off the first Antodaya Express and the fourth Humsafar Express through video conferencing from here.


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The Ernakulam-Howrah Antodaya weekly express will travel through Salem, Katpadi and Vishakhapatnam while Sri Ganganagar-Tiruchirappalli Humsafar weekly express will travel through Krishnarajapuram, Pune and Ahmedabad.


Speaking on the occasion, Prabhu said, "This is the fourth Humsafar Express to be launched and it will cross the entire country from the north to the south."


He said the train is a fully air conditioned 3-AC service with facilities like GPS-based passenger information system, passenger announcement system, fire and smoke detection and suppression system, CCTVs, comfortable seats, mobile and laptop charging points, integrated Braille display, LCD display above compartment doors in the aisle, fire retardant curtains.


"Today we are launching the country's first Antodaya Express. Tejas and UDAY Express will be launched soon. Antodaya Express is a long-distance, fully unreserved, superfast train service for the common man, to be operated on dense routes," he added.


The base fare of Antodaya Express will be 15 percent higher than the existing Mail/Express fare.


Antodaya service has facilities like cushioned luggage racks which can serve as seats, LED lights, modular toilets, pleasing interior colour scheme, toilet occupation indication display board and anti-graffiti coating for exterior painting.