The total number of operational Vande Bharat trains will surpass the half-century mark on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to inaugurate 10 new trains across various routes in the country. It has been just over two months since these trains were last inaugurated.
The 10 trains include the Lucknow-Dehradun Vande Bharat, along with routes such as Patna-Lucknow, New Jalpaiguri-Patna, Puri-Visakhapatnam, Kalaburagi–Bengaluru, Ranchi-Varanasi and Khajuraho-Delhi. Additionally, the Railway Ministry will introduce the second set of Vande Bharat trains on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai, Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam, and Mysuru-Chennai routes.
In addition to these, the route of four existing Vande Bharat services will also be extended
- Ahmedabad-Jamnagar Vande Bharat extended till Dwarka;
- Ajmer-Delhi service till Chandigarh;
- Gorakhpur-Lucknow till Prayagraj
- Thiruvananthapuram-Kasargod Vande Bharat till Mangaluru.
Vande Bharat operates across states with a Broad Gauge electrified network. In December 2023, the prime minister had inaugurated six new Vande Bharat services. This included the second service between Katra-New Delhi. The other services were Amritsar-Delhi; Coimbatore-Bangalore; Mangalore-Madgaon; Jalna-Mumbai; and Ayodhya-Delhi. In December 2023, the second service between Delhi and Varanasi was also inaugurated.
After the inauguration, the tally of the total Vande Bharat services running across the country will reach 51. These services will operate on 45 routes. At least six services operate between the same destinations. Two services each connect
- Delhi and Katra (in Jammu and Kashmir) as well as Delhi and Varanasi (in Uttar Pradesh).
- Mumbai (in Maharashtra)-Ahmedabad (in Gujarat),
- Mysuru (in Karnataka)-Chennai (in Tamil Nadu)
- and Kasaragod–Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala also have two services running between these destinations. After the inauguration of the new additional services, Visakhapatnam–Secunderabad will join the list of destinations with two Vande Bharat services.
After the inauguration of the new services, of the total 51 Vande Bharat services, 10 will have Delhi as the ultimate destination. So far, the city has direct Vande Bharat services for Dehradun, Amb Andaura, Bhopal, Ayodhya, and Amritsar. Khajuraho will be added to the list from Tuesday.
Delhi also has two services for Varanasi and Katra each. Delhi has most services among cities. The Ajmer-Delhi Vande Bharat was a dedicated service from the national capital to be extended till Chandigarh. So Delhi will just be a stoppage on the route.
Mumbai has six dedicated services — one each for Jalna, Madgaon, Sainagar Shirdi and Solapur. From Tuesday, two Vande Bharat services will run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, one of these operational till Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
Chennai has five services — one each for Tirunelveli, Coimbatore, and Vijayawada and two for Mysuru. The second service for Mysuru will start from Tuesday.
“A total of 506 significant projects in Maharashtra will be inaugurated or dedicated by the Prime Minister. This includes the launch of the Vande Bharat service from Mumbai Central to Ahmedabad—the eighth Vande Bharat service for Maharashtra,” stated a Central Railway official.
The inaugural run of the Ahmedabad – Mumbai Central Vande Bharat Express will be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 9 a.m. on March 12 via video conference. The regular service of the Ahmedabad – Mumbai Central Vande Bharat Superfast Express will commence on March 13,” announced Sumit Thakur, the chief spokesperson for Western Railway. This service will operate six days a week, excluding Sundays. It will depart from Ahmedabad at 6:10 a.m. and arrive at Mumbai Central at 11:35 a.m. For the return journey, it will leave Mumbai Central at 3:55 p.m. and reach Ahmedabad at 9:25 p.m., with stops at Vadodara, Surat, Vapi, and Borivali in both directions.
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