The Southern Railway Additional General Manager K.K. Srivastava inaugurated the Commonwealth Express, a special exhibition on wheels, which has arrived in Chennai Central on Tuesday , showcasing the history of Commonwealth Games (CWG) to the people of Chennai . The detail of the venues where the events will be held this October and other minute details of the Games are available in the exhibition. K K Srivastava said that the objective of the exhibition to is to create awareness about the Games among the public in general and youths in particular. The exhibition is organized by Indian Railways. The exhibition was flagged off by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee at Safdarjung Railway Station on June 24 is scheduled to return to New Delhi on Gandhi Jayanthi day. Out of the 11 coaches of the train 5 have been allotted to Railway Sports Promotion Board and the remaining to the history information technology industry in the country. The first coach gives a brief history of Commonwealth Games and details about the Mascot ‘Shera` and the Queen Baton Relay; The second coach the details of the venues and various games to be played; The third coach displays various sporting events, which have been included in the Games and the venues, where the events are to be held. Photographs of sports icons of the country are displayed in the fourth coach. The contribution of Railways in the development of sports and the list of medals won by railway sportspersons in international events find their place in the fifth coach.
Coaches from 6 to 11 tell about different facets of information and communication technology (ICT), each of them dealing with a particular facet. It presents a story of communication over the years from smoke signals in the primitive times to the SMS and e-mails. How the IT impacting the life of common man are displayed in the second coach. The third coach deals with the impact of ICT in various sectors – social, health, education, agriculture and ecology. The fourth coach presents ICT from the perspective of industries, its key role in the country`s economic rise. The theme of the fifth coach revolves around common service centres (CSCs), an initiative to provide a platform to the people to access to various information and services as well as an interface between government agencies and the citizens. The sixth coach has been designed as an auditorium Internet, video conferencing and mobile communications are some of the highlights of the exhibition.
The exhibition train around 50 major cities across the country and will be open to the public for three days from August 18. There is no entrance fee for the exhibition and the train is on Platform 11 at Chennai Central.