Prime Minister Modi Flags Off Nine New Vande Bharat Trains

In a boost to India's rail network, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched nine Vande Bharat trains today (September 24) to enhance connectivity across 11 states, facilitating smooth and faster rail service.

The flagged off new trains are on the Udaipur-Jaipur, Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Vijayawada-Chennai (via Renigunta), Patna-Howrah, Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram, Rourkela-Bhubaneswar-Puri, Ranchi-Howrah and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad routes.

"Speed, the scale of infrastructure development is matching aspirations of 140 crore Indians...Today people of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat will get the facility of Vande Bharat Express trains. These new Vande Bharat Express trains depict the new energy of the country," Prime Minister Modi said while flagging off the trains.

Since launching of Vande Bharat trains, 1.11 crore passengers have travelled in it, which indicates large number of people using the train, he added.

The Kasaragod-Thiruvanathapuram Vande Bharat is the first such train to have orange-white colour combination, while all other Vande Bharat trains are in the blue-white variant.

Besides, Kasaragod-Thiruvanathapuram route is also the only route to have two Vande Bharat trains to cater to the growing demand of the passengers.

The Prime Minister launched these nine Vande Bharat trains through video conferencing from Delhi.

All these trains are having eight-coach each, with 78 seats in each compartment while 52 seats in the executive chair.

The first and last compartments have only 44 seats due to the attached power car in the train.

With the launch of these nine new indigenously built semi-high speed trains, the Indian Railways will now have total 68 Vande Bharat services in the country connecting important religious places like Puri, Madurai and Tirupati.

Manufactured at Integrated Coach Factory (ICF) Chennai, the Vande Bharat services will be the fastest along the routes of their operation and will 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 three hours; Hyderabad-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express by more than 2.5 hours; Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai Vande Bharat Express by more than two hours; Ranchi-Howrah Vande Bharat Express, Patna-Howrah Vande Bharat Express and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express by about one hour; and Udaipur-Jaipur Vande Bharat Express by about half an hour.

These nine trains will boost connectivity across eleven states including Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat.

According to the Railways Vande Bharat trains would provide world class experience to passengers and help boosting tourism.

The Railways maintain that these new Vande Bharat trains are a step towards realising Prime Minister’s vision of improving connectivity across the country, especially of important religious places and providing world class facilities to rail passengers.

The newly launched Vande Bharat Express trains 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 aims to 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.