On Cards: Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat Train As Trial Run Starts

The much-awaited Vande Bharat express between Mumbai and Goa is expected to be rolled out soon. Indian Railways is conducting the route-proving trials of the semi-high-speed train today, following which the train will be inaugurated.

The train left for Madgaon in Goa from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CST) in Mumbai for the trial on Tuesday morning, according to sources. 

Once launched, this would be the fourth Vande Bharat from India’s financial capital. Mumbai currently has three Vande Bharat trains to Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Sainagar Shirdi, and Solapur.

The new Vande Bharat from Mumbai is expected to run between CST and Madgaon. However, the details related to expected inauguration date and the proposed route, are yet to be finalised.

The Mumbai-Shirdi train connects the commercial capital to pilgrimage centres in Maharashtra like Nashik, Trimbakeshwar and Shirdi, whereas the Mumbai-Solapur train offers faster connectivity to Siddheshwar, Akkalkot, Tuljapur, Pandharpur and Alandi.

Five Trains By June

Indian Railways is working to operationalise at least five pairs of Vande Bharat trains by the end of June with one between Puri and Howrah likely to be virtually flagged off from Puri on 18 May by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Apart from this, one Vande Bharat train is also likely to be rolled between Guwahati in Assam and New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and another one between Patna and Ranchi.

The new bunch of trains, will thus, mark the debut of India’s first semi-high-speed train in the eastern region of Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam.

The railways have set a target to run at least 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 2023, to mark 75th anniversary of India's Independence — Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Therefore, the Ministry of Railways had streamlined the production of the Vande Bharat rakes, and it is all set for the back-to-back inauguration of new trains.

Total Tally At 15 

The first Vande Bharat (VB) train was flagged off on the New Delhi-Kanpur- Allahabad-Varanasi route on 15 February 2019.

Presently, 15 pairs of Vande Bharat Express are in operation over the Indian Railways (IR) network.

• Five VB trains from Delhi to — Ajmer, Varanasi, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, Bhopal and Amb Andaura in Himachal Pradesh.

• Three VB trains from Mumbai to — Gandhinagar, Shirdi and Solapur.

• Two VB trains from Chennai to — Mysuru and Coimbatore

• Two VB trains from Telangana's Secunderabad to — Visakhapatnam and Tirupati

• VB trains are also operational on Nagpur-Bilaspur, Howrah-New Jalpaiguri, and Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod routes.​