Mumbai: Deccan Queen to get 40-chair dining car

The new dining coach of the Deccan Queen train

In just a few more months, your travel and breakfast amid the Khandala Ghats in the Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen will get a swanky update. The Indian Railways has finally given the iconic inter-city train an exclusive, 40-seat dining car, which will have dining tables and windows offering a panoramic view.

This is the first time that the Railways is developing a higher-end LHB-class coach to be a part of the train which completes 90 years in June this year. LHB stands for Linke-Hofmann Busch, the German manufacturing company that developed passenger coaches for India.

New logo for the Deccan Queen

The coach will have improved suspension system with more riding comfort, with a speed of 160 km/h that can go up to 200 km/h. The existing old dining car built by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) will be phased out after the new one is ready later this year. The railway board directorate for carriages conveyed its formal approval for the new design two weeks ago.

"The layout of the new dining car has been approved by the RDSO (Research, Design and Standards Organisation) and is expected to be approved by railway board too. This is a unique layout of a pantry-cum-dining car on the LHB platform. ICF shall manufacture the new LHB rake. After customisation, the rake is expected to be ready this year," Central Railway's chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said.

Deccan Queen's new dining coach

The windows of the new coach will be 1,480 mm-wide. The train is known to serve a variety of breakfast menus with baked beans and sandwiches that have a loyal following.

mid-day had reported about how the Central Railway, in a rare gesture, placed an order for a special 20-car customised train based on a survey of commuters' choices.

The Deccan Queen, started by the British in 1930, is one of the prestigious trains of Central Railway. It is the only regular passenger train on the Indian Railways that has a separate dining car (restaurant car), with a special food menu.

When the dining car was discontinued in 2015, there was quite a hue and cry among regular passengers and rail fans, leading to its restoration.

200
Max speed (kmph) train can reach

The colour scheme for the new train that you helped pick

Travellers' choice

Mumbaikars and Punekars were asked by the Central Railway to choose a colour scheme from eight options for the new Deccan Queen train. The top voted design is the royal blue shade on a white background with red bands on top and bottom with the letters DQ written in big, life-size fonts. A special logo has also been designed for the train with the image of the UNESCO-listed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) station.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates