The Railways on Friday announced it will introduce a faster Delhi-Mumbai Special Rajdhani Express service thrice in a week without flexi-fare from October 16.

“To fulfill the long overdue demand of passengers and to provide faster and convenient connectivity to passengers between two metros Delhi and Mumbai, Railways is introducing a new Special Rajdhani Express between Delhi and Mumbai from October 16,” the Ministry of Railways said in a statement.

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The Ministry also said that the train would be introduced on experimental basis for three months to gauge the response of the public to a concept of flat increase in fares against existing flexi-fare.

Railways said that with the introduction of new Rajdhani Express, the travel time will be reduced from about 15 hours 50 minutes to 13 hours 55 minutes.

The train will stop at Kota, Vadodara and Surat railway stations only.

The railway officials said to increase the maximum speed of the train to 130 kmph, it will be hauled by two WAP5 locomotives of 5,400 horsepower each.

The transporter already runs two Rajdhanis and more than 30 mail or express trains between the two metro cities.

The Rajdhani Express train will comprise of one first AC, two 2AC and twelve 3ACs and one pantry car.

The fares of the new special train would be 20 per cent more than the base fares for existing New Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani without any flexi fare.

The fare for Special Rajdhani in 3rd AC and 2nd AC will be around 19 per cent cheaper than the maximum flexi fare of 3rd AC in Mumbai Rajdhani.

The Special Rajdhani Express will depart from Hazrat Nizamuddin on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 4.15 p.m. and would reach Bandra Terminus at 6.10 a.m next day. It will leave Bandra Terminus on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 4.15 p.m. and reach Hazrat Nizamuddin at 6.10 a.m.

On September 9, 2016, Railways introduced flexi-fare for premier trains – Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi.

Under this, the base fare increases by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold, subject to a prescribed limit. There was no change in the existing fare for 1AC and EC class of travel.

But on December 19, Railways started to provide 10 per cent rebate on any seat left vacant after the preparation of the chart.