News Brief
Fifth Vande Bharat Express On Chennai-Mysuru Route From Nov 10, Work In Progress To Launch VB Trains Connecting Bengaluru To Hubballi, Kovai, Secunderabad
Vande Bharat Express (Wikipedia)
After launching the fourth Vande Bharat train for Himachal Pradesh, the fifth Vande Bharat train is slated to run on Chennai - Mysuru route next month, the first semi-high-speed service for south India.
Indigenously built at ICF, the 16-coach train is expected to be rolled out in the second week of November.
Currently, a Shatabdi train plying between Chennai and Mysuru via Bengaluru completes the journey in about seven hours.
The Vande Bharat Express is expected to reduce the travel time between Mysuru and Chennai to less than six hours.
"We are working out details for launching the semi-high speed in this route. The number of stoppages, the fare chart and time table are to be finalised before announcing the service," said a senior Railway official.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the third Vande Bharat Express in Gandhinagar on September 30 and the fourth Vande Bharat train on October 13 from Una.
The fifth Vande Bharat train is also likely to be launched by the PM from Karnataka.
Vande Bharat Express has also reduced the journey time between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
The second version of Vande Bharat is equipped with more advanced and better features, like reaching a speed of 0 to 100 kmph in just 52 seconds. At the same time, its maximum speed will be 180 kilometres per hour. The Vande Bharat Express will weigh 392 tonnes, while the weight of the previous train was 430 tonnes.
It will also have Wi-Fi on-demand facility. Apart from this, the safety feature has also been enhanced in this train.
There is also a passenger-guard communication facility in coaches, which comes with an automatic voice recording feature.
South Western Railways officials have identified three other corridors- Bengaluru-Hubballi, Bengaluru-Coimbatore and Bengaluru-Secunderabad — to run Vande Bharat trains. The work is going in full swing to secure the route for launch the semi-speed train in these routes
The Railways is likely to launch Vande Bharat Express high-speed train, from Bengaluru to Hubballi by March 2023. The doubling of the 45 km line between South Hubballi and Haveri is currently pending. The work is expected to be completed by the year-end. The SWR is also targeting electrification of the line by March 2023.
Doubling of major routes such as Hubballi-Chikjajur (190Km), Londa-Miraj (188Km), Gadag-Hotgi (284Km) are also in progress.
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