Commonwealth Express to reach Delhi Wednesday

NEW DELHI - The Commonwealth Express, showcasing the glorious history and salient features of the upcoming Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games, is returning to Delhi Wednesday after enthralling over seven lakh visitors during the last three months of its coutrywide run.

“The exhibition train will be stationed at Delhi’s Pragati Maidan station for public view from Sep 29 to Oct 14 — the day the Games come to a close,” a railways official said Tuesday.

The train is reaching Delhi after travelling to 47 stations all over the country. It was flagged off from here June 24 by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.

It travelled through Ajmer, Agra, Jhansi, Gandhinagar, Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Mysore Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Chennai, Mancheswar, Raipur, Dhanbad, Kolkata, New Jalpaiguri, Gaya, Patna, Varanasi, Lucknow, Una, Haridwar, Chandigarh, Ambala, Patiala, Udhampur, Jalandhar and Amritsar before returning to Delhi.

“Interestingly, the train reached Amritsar June 25, the day the Queen’s Baton arrived in India via Wagha Border,” said the ministry release, adding the arrival of the train at various places has generally been coincided with the arrival of the Baton there.

The Commonwealth Express has 11 coaches, of which five coaches are allocated to Railway Sports Promotion Board to showcase the history of the Games, details of the venues etc., among other things.

The coaches also spread awareness about various Indian sports icons who brought laurels to the country with their feats.

In the remaining six coaches of the train, the department of information and technology has been showcasing India’s achievement in the field of information technology and narrating the ‘IT Story of India’.