Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off nine Vande Bharat trains on Sunday via video conferencing.
The new Vande Bharat trains are a step towards realising Prime Minister’s vision of improving connectivity across the country and providing world class facilities to rail passengers.
The new trains to be flagged off are:Udaipur-Jaipur Express, Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai
Express, Hyderabad-Bengaluru Express, Vijayawada-Chennai (via Renigunta) Express, Patna- Howrah Express, Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram Express, Rourkela-Bhubaneswar-Puri Express, Ranchi-Howrah Express and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad Express.
Of these, three Vande Bharat services will run in Southern Railway.
The three trains are Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram Central-Kasaragod Express (the second exclusive Vande Bharat Express for Kerala), Tirunelveli-Chennai Egmore-Tirunelveli Express (the first such premium service connecting the Southern cities of Tamil Nadu with Chennai) and Vijayawada-Dr MGR Chennai Central-Vijayawada (the first Vande Bharat connecting Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu via Renigunta).
The inaugural specials of these three Vande Bharat services will commence their maiden journeys from Kasaragod, Tirunelveli and Vijayawada respectively after flagging off by the Prime Minister.
Official sources said these nine trains will boost connectivity across 11 states, viz., Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal,Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat.
The Vande Bharat trains will be the fastest train along the routes of their operation and will help save considerable time of the passengers.
As compared to the current fastest train along the route, Rourkela-Bhubaneswar-Puri Vande Bharat Express and Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express will be faster by about 3 hours; Hyderabad-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express by more than 2.5 hours; the Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai Vande Bharat Express by more than 2 hours; Ranchi-Howrah Vande Bharat Express, Patna-Howrah Vande Bharat Express and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express by about 1 hour; and Udaipur-Jaipur Vande Bharat Express by about half an hour.
In line with the Prime Minister’s vision to improve connectivity of important religious places across the country, Rourkela-Bhubaneswar-Puri Vande Bharat Express and Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai Vande Bharat Express will connect important religious towns of Puri and Madurai.
Also, the Vijayawada-Chennai Vande Bharat Express will operate via the Renigunta route and will provide connectivity to Tirupati pilgrimage centre.
The introduction of these Vande Bharat trains will herald a new standard of rail service in the country.
These trains, equipped with world class amenities and advanced safety features, including Kavach technology, will be a key step towards providing modern, speedy and comfortable means of travel to common people, professionals, businessmen, student community and tourists.
