On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate nine Vande Bharat trains that will connect tourist and religious destinations in 11 states, including Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat. Three of these states are currently in the midst of elections.
The inauguration will be conducted via video conferencing with the participation of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. These trains will enhance connectivity across the 11 states.
The nine new Vande Bharat Express trains include:
- Kerala, Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram
- Rajasthan, Jaipur to Udaipur
- Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, Vijayawada to Chennai
- Tamil Nadu, Tirunelveli to Chennai
- Gujarat Jamnagar, to Ahmedabad
- Jharkhand and West Bengal, Ranchi to Howrah
- Telangana and Karnataka, Secunderabad (Kacheguda) to Bengaluru (Yesvantpur)
- Odisha, Rourkela to Puri
- Bihar and West Bengal, Patna to Howrah
According to PTI, an official statement mentioned that these trains are a step towards realizing the Prime Minister’s vision of enhancing connectivity across the country and providing world-class facilities to rail passengers. The Vande Bharat trains will be the fastest on their respective routes, significantly reducing travel time for passengers.
In terms of travel time reduction, compared to the current fastest trains on these routes, the Vande Bharat trains will reduce travel time by three hours on the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar-Puri and Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram routes; more than two and a half hours for Hyderabad-Bengaluru; more than two hours for Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai; about one hour for Ranchi-Howrah, Patna-Howrah and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad; about half an hour for between Udaipur and Jaipur.
The Rourkela-Bhubaneswar-Puri and Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai trains will connect important religious towns like Puri and Madurai. The Vijayawada-Chennai Vande Bharat train will operate via the Renigunta route and provide connectivity to Tirupati. These new trains are expected to provide a smooth travel experience during the upcoming festival season.
The Indian Railways plans to launch a sleeper version of the Vande Bharat and Vande Metro before the end of this fiscal year. The semi-high speed train series will also have a non-air conditioned push-pull version with 22 coaches and a locomotive, which is expected to be launched in October 2024. The sleeper version is expected to be rolled out by March 2024. The coaches for both versions are being manufactured by the ICF in Chennai. The Vande Metro is expected to be ready by the end of 2023 and rolled out in January or February next year.
