Guwahati, (Samajweekly) In a bid to boost trade and tourism in the northeast region and to promote its cultural heritage through railway connectivity, two more Vistadome train services were flagged off on Sunday after the first such services were launched by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) between West Bengal and the region in August.
The Vistadome tourist special trains with transparent glass windows and roofs providing 360-degree view were introduced on Sunday in two popular broad gauge routes having tourism potential — Guwahati-Naharlagun (Arunachal Pradesh) and Naharlagun-Tinsukia (Assam).
NFR’s Chief Public Relations Officer Guneet Kaur said that the vistadome train services were flagged off by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Minister of State of Railways and Textiles Darshana Jardosh at Guwahati Railway Station and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu at Naharlagun station.
She said that existing Vistadome services between Guwahati and New Haflong have been extended up to Badarpur in southern Assam to fulfil the demand of tourists.
The Vistadome coaches are equipped with state of the art glass windows and all glass roofs for providing view of the sky, mountains, tunnels, bridges, hills, tea gardens and lush green forests to the tourists. It will also have observation lounges for the purpose of sight-seeing. The rotational seats of the coach are designed to provide added comfort to passengers.
Coaches are also provided with digital entertainment system and Wi-Fi facilities. Tourists can enjoy the entire trip by enjoying infotainments like movies, music videos etc. Wi-Fi based passenger information system is also provided.
For safety of passengers, CCTV cameras and a Fire Alarm System are also installed.
The regular services of train between Naharlagun-Guwahati-Naharlagun Shatabdi Express with Vistadome coach will resume on December 20.
The CPRO said that the Guwahati-Naharlagun route is surrounded by the tea gardens and tourists can enjoy the scenic beauty of Himalayan range in the north and green tea gardens on either side of the track. Vistadome services from Naharlagun will provide breath-taking views of Brahmaputra River, the tea gardens, rain forests along the track and views of mountains of Himalayan range. The route also covers historic cities of Assam.
Tourism sectors of this area will reap the benefits from these new services, Guneet Kaur added.
