Passengers have to pay a bit more to travel in Rajdhani Express as the premier service is slated to become Tejas Rajdhani with upgraded facilities matching the proposed modern amenities of upcoming private trains.

The base fare of Tejas Rajdhani service shall be 5 per cent higher than the base fare of Rajdhani for the respective classes, besides all the existing provision of flexi-fare scheme shall also be applicable for the new-type service, according to the railways.

Flexi-fare is applicable to Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains.

Beginning with the Agartala Tejas Rajdhani in February, all coaches of Rajdhani trains will be replaced with the most modern Tejas sleeper coaches in phases as the railways has started the process of manufacturing 500 Tejas coaches in its production units.

While the public transporter had rolled out the new Agartala-Anand Vihar Special Tejas Rajdhani Express replacing all coaches with the newly-built modern ones on 15 February, the next Tejas Rajdhani is likely to be pressed into service for Mumbai.

Gradually all Rajdhani coaches will be replaced with the newly-designed Tejas coaches and the service will be known as Tejas Rajdhani Express, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

The official further said "upgrading Rajdhani service was necessary keeping in view the proposed private train operation. Since private train operators are expected to introduce modern coaches with better amenities, we have to upgrade our service to be competitive."

Tejas coaches are being equipped with smart features offering better travelling experience with more comfort.

With the introduction of the modern Tejas sleeper-type train for long distance journey, the Indian Railway is making a paradigm shift in the travel experience for the passengers.

The railways maintain that this will be the beginning of a new era of travel experience.

The production of 500 such sleeper coaches will be at Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Chennai and Modern Coach Factory (MCF) at Raebareli in the financial year.

The Tejas coaches have automatic plug doors, stainless steel under-frame, bio-vacuum toilet system, air suspension bogies, fire alarm, detection and suppression system.

The other features include modular bio-toilet with vacuum-assisted flushing, touch-less fitting marble finish with anti-graffiti coating, toilet occupancy sensors, gel coated shelf, door latch-activated light new design dustbin and one mother and baby friendly toilet in each coach.