Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off nine Vande Bharat Express trains on 24 September. According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), these 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 that will be flagged off are:
- Udaipur – Jaipur Vande Bharat Express
- Tirunelveli-Madurai- Chennai Vande Bharat Express
- Hyderabad –Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express
- Vijayawada – Chennai (via Renigunta) Vande Bharat Express
- Patna – Howrah Vande Bharat Express
- Kasaragod - Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express
- Rourkela - Bhubaneswar – Puri Vande Bharat Express
- Ranchi – Howrah Vande Bharat Express
- Jamnagar-Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express
These nine trains will boost connectivity across eleven states namely Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat.
These Vande Bharat trains will be fastest trains
These Vande Bharat trains will be the fastest trains 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, 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 the connectivity of important religious places across the country, the 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 the 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, the student community and tourists.
Vande Bharat Express
Vande Bharat Express is an indigenously manufactured, semi-high speed and self-propelled train set. The train is equipped with state-of-the-art passenger amenities, providing passengers with a faster, more comfortable and convenient travel experience. The Vande Bharat train is India's first indigenously manufactured semi-high-speed trainset, also known as Train 18. It is designed to run at speeds of up to 160 km/h and is equipped with modern amenities such as GPS-based passenger information systems, onboard Wi-Fi, and CCTV cameras for enhanced security.
There has been a growing demand for the introduction of sleeper class Vande Bharat trainsets, which are capable of operating on long-distance routes such as Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah. Currently, all operational Vande Bharat trains only have chair car and executive chair car classes, which cater to shorter distance routes.
Also Read: PM Modi flags off Uttarakhand's 1st 'Vande Bharat Express' train
