Central Railway to restore Pragati Express from July 25 with Vistadome coach

Services of Mumbai-Pune Pragati Express, which were suspended during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, will be restored from July 25 with a Vistadome coach which has a panoramic roof and windows, the Central Railway (CR) said on July 19.

The train will run with the Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) rake, including a Vistadome coach, the CR said in a release.

Pragati Express is the third train on the Mumbai-Pune route after Deccan Queen and Deccan Express that will run with a Vistadome coach and the fourth on the CR network, as Mumbai-Madgaon Jan Shatabdi Express also runs with a Vistadome coach, as per the release.

Vistadome coaches come with 180-degree rotatable plush seats, large glass windows, glass roofs with anti-glare screens, and a Wi-Fi-based system to offer passengers more information. Pragati Express will depart from Pune at 7.50 am and will arrive in Mumbai at 11.25 am on the same day, while for the return journey it will leave CSMT at 4.25 pm and reach Pune at 7.50 pm.

According to the release, the 14-coach train will run with an LHB rake. LHB coaches are considered safer and more comfortable compared to traditional coaches. The train will be operated via the Panvel-Karjat route instead of the regular Kalyan-Karjat route and en route it will halt at Dadar, Thane, Panvel, Karjat, Lonavala, and Shivaji Nagar stations, it said.

Ticket booking for the train will open from July 20.