Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off India’s fifth and South’s first Vande Bharat train from Bengaluru. The train will run between Mysuru and Chennai and help cut travel time between the two destinations. “It will enhance connectivity between the industrial hub of Chennai and the Tech and Startup hub of Bengaluru and the famous tourist city of Mysuru,” the PMO said. The train was inaugurated at KSR Bengaluru station and will reach Chennai later.
Modi also inaugurated the Bharat Gaurav Kashi Darshan train under the ‘Bharat Gaurav’ train policy of Railways. “It will fulfill the dream of numerous travellers intending to undertake Kashi Yatra,” according to the South Western Railway.
Here are the top points on the new Vande Bharat train:
1) Passengers travelling from Chennai to Mysore will be charged ₹1,200 for a car chair and 2,295 for executive class; those traveling from Mysore to Chennai will have to pay ₹1,365 and ₹2,486 respectively.
#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi flags off Vande Bharat Express at KSR railway station in Bengaluru, Karnataka
— ANI (@ANI) November 11, 2022
(Source: DD) pic.twitter.com/sOF45cOwAX
2) The train will cover 500 km in 6 hours 30 minutes and will halt at two stops between Chennai and Mysore- Katpadi and Bengaluru, officials said. Regular operations will begin on Saturday.
3) “If run in full capacity, the train can touch Chennai from Bengaluru in just three hours,” news agency PTI quoted a railway official.
4) The train has been developed by Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, and enabled with an intelligent braking system for better acceleration and deceleration.
5) All the coaches are equipped with automatic doors, GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system, onboard hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes, and comfortable seats.
6) The first Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off on February 15, 2019, on the New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route.