Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off nine new Vande Bharat trains on various routes on Sunday.
He said, “Popularity of Vande Bharat trains is constantly rising. Over 1,11,00,000 passengers have already travelled on them.
25 Vande Bharat trains are running, now nine more are added. That day is not far away when these trains will connect all parts of the country.”
The Vande Bharat initiative
Part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative, Vande Bharat Express trains were launched in 2019.
The first train between Delhi and Varanasi was flagged off on February 15 that year.
These trains are India’s first indigenous ‘semi high speed’ trains that are manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
Equipped with world class amenities and advanced safety features, including Kavach technology, these trains will be a key step towards providing modern, speedy and comfortable means of travel to common people, professionals, businessmen, student community and tourists.
The sleeper version and Vande Metro variation of the service is set to be launched next year.
States covered
These trains will connect religious, tourist destinations across 11 states.
These include Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat.
Cities covered
The trains will run between: Udaipur – Jaipur; Tirunelveli-Madurai – Chennai; Hyderabad – Bengaluru; Vijayawada – Chennai (via Renigunta); Patna – Howrah; Kasaragod – Thiruvananthapuram; Rourkela – Bhubaneswar – Puri; Ranchi – Howrah; and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad.
Connectivity to religious destinations
Two Vande Bharat routes — Rourkela-Bhubaneswar-Puri and the Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai will connect the religious towns of Puri and Madurai respectively.
The Vijayawada-Chennai Vande Bharat Express will operate via the Renigunta route and will provide connectivity to Tirupati, a famous pilgrimage town.
Advantages
The trains are expected to offer a smooth travel experience to commuters and serve as a faster and convenient travel option
They are part of the Prime Minister’s vision of improving connectivity across the country and providing world class facilities to rail passengers, an official statement said.
“The Vande Bharat trains will be the fastest train along the routes of their operation and will help save considerable time of the passengers,” it said.
Shortened travel time
It will cut travel time between respective destinations by about three hours; Hyderabad – Bengaluru by more than 2.5 hours; Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai by more than 2 hours.
Travel time between Ranchi – Howrah and Patna – Howrah and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad will be reduced by about one hour when compared with the fastest trains currently running between these destinations.
The Kacheguda-Yesvantpur train service between Bengaluru and Hyderabad will be the fastest train between the two cities with least journey time.
The Vijayawada – MGR Chennai Central route train will be the first and fastest on this route.
Trains on the Patna-Howrah and Ranchi-Howrah route will cover a distance of 535 km in approximately 6 hours and 30 minutes.
The new additions
- Kasaragod – Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala)
- Jaipur – Udaipur (Rajasthan)
- Vijayawada – Chennai (Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu)
- Tirunelveli – Chennai (Tamil Nadu)
- Jamnagar – Ahmedabad (Gujarat)
- Ranchi – Howrah (Jharkhand and West Bengal)
- Secunderabad (Kacheguda) – Bengaluru (Yesvantpur) (Telangana and Karanataka)
- Rourkela – Puri (Odisha)
- Patna – Howrah (Bihar and West Bengal)
