The tourist coach "Vistadome" was first introduced for ECoR around April 2017 and attached to 58501 Visakhapatnam - Kirandul Passenger for boosting tourism in the Araku Valley.
The route from Visakhapatnam to Araku is quite scenic and the Passenger is the only daily train in the freight dominated section.
After having planned our trip for Vizag, needless to say Me and My Friend booked for a ride in Vistadome coach on 6th September.
Booking ticket:
To book this ticket after logging into IRCTC, Select Source and Destination as Visakhapatnam and Arakku respectively. Select "EC" under class and you can book the ticket for this coach depending upon the availability. The total fare is 665/-
The total journey as per schedule is for 3Hrs 55mins covering 131Kms by Rail.
Vistadome Experience:
The journey began at sharp 7:05am (the scheduled departure of this train). As we crossed Marripalem Halt to further join the Kottavalasa Line, the onboard pantry guy started to take orders for breakfast. Note that the Fare doesnt include the same and we have to purchase from him. We had couple of plates of delicious Idlis and a great coffee during the journey.
The Kottavalasa - Araku - Koraput section is mainly a freight dominated one. We crossed multiple freights throughout the journey which were looped for our train to pass through. Occupancy was great as initially when we booked there were only 2 seats remaining and we were the last to book those. On the actual day of journey some 5 of them were empty which I believe might be the last moment cancellations. The actual climb of the ghats begins after Boddavara station where one is treated with beautiful views of Eastern Ghats.
Majority of the coach got empty at Borra Guhalu station which is nearby the tourist attraction- Borra Caves. We reached Araku with a marginal delay of approx 15 to 20 mins ( Lucky for us as next day and day after the train was consistently delayed in its run towards Araku).
The Vistadome coach is detached here and taken to the siding with the help of spare locomotive available. It stays there all day and attached to the same Passenger in the evening towards Visakhapatnam. The seats are rotated such that they face the direction of their return journey towards Vizag.
Advantages, Drawbacks, Areas of Improvement:
Vistadome coach has wide windows which help us to get a good view of the surroundings, an Observation area at the end which helps to get the view of passing scenery from the rear of the train.
The transparent glasses above arent much of use since they are narrow due to the AC duct of the coach. This needs to be widened and the arrangement of the duct might be made at the corners like the aircrafts so that the entire transparent glass above can offer an amazing view of the blue skies too.
With wider windows comes a disadvantage that the rays of the sun as the day rises directly fall on the passengers and thereby making them uncomfortable. There are window shades to prevent the same but a little glaring arrangement on the windows and the roof top glasses might help in reducing the effect of Sun rays.
Putting down the window shades will take away the amazing view offered by wide windows.
Return journey in Vistadome is highly not preferred and is usually empty because of following reasons:
1. Since the direction of the coach is not turned in the return journey, the observation area loses its importance as the glass gets blocked by the last coach of the train. One solution that may be thought of here is to increase the length of the coach so as to accommodate an observation area at the other end too. So, no matter whatever is the direction of the journey, purpose of observation area remains intact.
2. The passenger which starts from Kirandul/Jagdalpur (if the route is closed) seldom makes it on time to Araku. The delayed run in return journey doesnt really offer a great view as it becomes dark outside. Adding to it, Passenger Trains are not given priority over any other train. Hence the return jourey becomes very boring and uninteresting as the train gets heldup at multiple locations due to Multiple evening departues from Vizag. The onboard staff to endorsed the fact that quite a lot of times, the train ends up reaching late at Vizag.
The solution to this is to prioritize this train both ways such that it maintains the schedule. A marginal delay of 15-30 may be acceptable. We saw this train to be late by an hour or more almost daily at Araku and the delay used to increase further till the train reached Vizag.
Another solution is to operate the coach one way with Passenger and in return journey as a single coach train at its scheduled time of 16:10 from Araku if the passenger is badly delayed. ECoR needs to ensure the availibility of spare loco and crew around the time of departure towards VSKP for the same. It may only halt at Araku and Borra Caves stn to pick up tourists and head back Non-Stop to VSKP.
Concluding, this is the first and the most awesome initiative taken by Railways to boost tourism with Railways.If the patronage of this coach needs to be maintained both ways then punctuality of the train in both directions need to be ensured OR some solutions like the one mentioned above need to be given a serious thought and need to be implemented.
Recently Mumbai Division of Central Railways has also got one such coach and it is planned to be attached to Dadar Madgaon JanShatabdi Express as per various news reports.
The route from Visakhapatnam to Araku is quite scenic and the Passenger is the only daily train in the freight dominated section.
After having planned our trip for Vizag, needless to say Me and My Friend booked for a ride in Vistadome coach on 6th September.
 |
| 58501 Kirandul Passenger at Araku Stn |
Booking ticket:
To book this ticket after logging into IRCTC, Select Source and Destination as Visakhapatnam and Arakku respectively. Select "EC" under class and you can book the ticket for this coach depending upon the availability. The total fare is 665/-
The total journey as per schedule is for 3Hrs 55mins covering 131Kms by Rail.
Vistadome Experience:
The journey began at sharp 7:05am (the scheduled departure of this train). As we crossed Marripalem Halt to further join the Kottavalasa Line, the onboard pantry guy started to take orders for breakfast. Note that the Fare doesnt include the same and we have to purchase from him. We had couple of plates of delicious Idlis and a great coffee during the journey.
The Kottavalasa - Araku - Koraput section is mainly a freight dominated one. We crossed multiple freights throughout the journey which were looped for our train to pass through. Occupancy was great as initially when we booked there were only 2 seats remaining and we were the last to book those. On the actual day of journey some 5 of them were empty which I believe might be the last moment cancellations. The actual climb of the ghats begins after Boddavara station where one is treated with beautiful views of Eastern Ghats.
 |
| View of the Ghats onboard Vistadome |
Majority of the coach got empty at Borra Guhalu station which is nearby the tourist attraction- Borra Caves. We reached Araku with a marginal delay of approx 15 to 20 mins ( Lucky for us as next day and day after the train was consistently delayed in its run towards Araku).
The Vistadome coach is detached here and taken to the siding with the help of spare locomotive available. It stays there all day and attached to the same Passenger in the evening towards Visakhapatnam. The seats are rotated such that they face the direction of their return journey towards Vizag.
 |
| Interior View of Vistadome Coach |
Advantages, Drawbacks, Areas of Improvement:
Vistadome coach has wide windows which help us to get a good view of the surroundings, an Observation area at the end which helps to get the view of passing scenery from the rear of the train.
 |
| View from the Observation Area |
The transparent glasses above arent much of use since they are narrow due to the AC duct of the coach. This needs to be widened and the arrangement of the duct might be made at the corners like the aircrafts so that the entire transparent glass above can offer an amazing view of the blue skies too.
With wider windows comes a disadvantage that the rays of the sun as the day rises directly fall on the passengers and thereby making them uncomfortable. There are window shades to prevent the same but a little glaring arrangement on the windows and the roof top glasses might help in reducing the effect of Sun rays.
Putting down the window shades will take away the amazing view offered by wide windows.
Return journey in Vistadome is highly not preferred and is usually empty because of following reasons:
1. Since the direction of the coach is not turned in the return journey, the observation area loses its importance as the glass gets blocked by the last coach of the train. One solution that may be thought of here is to increase the length of the coach so as to accommodate an observation area at the other end too. So, no matter whatever is the direction of the journey, purpose of observation area remains intact.
2. The passenger which starts from Kirandul/Jagdalpur (if the route is closed) seldom makes it on time to Araku. The delayed run in return journey doesnt really offer a great view as it becomes dark outside. Adding to it, Passenger Trains are not given priority over any other train. Hence the return jourey becomes very boring and uninteresting as the train gets heldup at multiple locations due to Multiple evening departues from Vizag. The onboard staff to endorsed the fact that quite a lot of times, the train ends up reaching late at Vizag.
The solution to this is to prioritize this train both ways such that it maintains the schedule. A marginal delay of 15-30 may be acceptable. We saw this train to be late by an hour or more almost daily at Araku and the delay used to increase further till the train reached Vizag.
Another solution is to operate the coach one way with Passenger and in return journey as a single coach train at its scheduled time of 16:10 from Araku if the passenger is badly delayed. ECoR needs to ensure the availibility of spare loco and crew around the time of departure towards VSKP for the same. It may only halt at Araku and Borra Caves stn to pick up tourists and head back Non-Stop to VSKP.
Concluding, this is the first and the most awesome initiative taken by Railways to boost tourism with Railways.If the patronage of this coach needs to be maintained both ways then punctuality of the train in both directions need to be ensured OR some solutions like the one mentioned above need to be given a serious thought and need to be implemented.
Recently Mumbai Division of Central Railways has also got one such coach and it is planned to be attached to Dadar Madgaon JanShatabdi Express as per various news reports.
 |
| Vistadome coach detached at Araku stn from 58501 Passenger |
