Bengaluru-Dharwad 'Vande Bharat Express' train arrives at the KSR Railway Station.
DH Photo/ B H Shivakumar
Karnataka’s dedicated Vande Bharat Express, which currently connects Bengaluru with Hubballi-Dharwad, will be extended to Belagavi by the end of November, railway officials said on Wednesday.
Citizens and elected representatives had been demanding the extension of the semi-high-speed train to the border city, but authorities couldn’t do that because the Dharwad-Belagavi railway line (121.6 km) wasn’t doubled or electrified. That obstacle has now been removed.
The Dharwad-Belagavi has been doubled and fully electrified, said Aneesh Hegde, Chief Public Relations Officer, South Western Railway.
In the Londa-Miraj section, only the Vijayanagar-Miraj stretch (8.1 km) has to be doubled. The work will be completed shortly, Hegde added.
The Vande Bharat Express will take 7 hours and 45 minutes from KSR Bengaluru to Belagavi, more than two hours faster than the current fastest train. In the return direction, it will cover the same distance in 8 hours and 10 minutes, as per the timetable approved by the Railway Board on Wednesday.
The extension will also reduce travel time between Bengaluru and Hubballi-Dharwad. The train will take just 5 hours and 5 minutes from KSR Bengaluru to Hubballi, and 5 hours and 35 minutes from KSR Bengaluru to Dharwad. In the return direction, it will take 5 hours and 20 minutes from Hubballi to KSR Bengaluru, and 5 hours and 50 minutes from Dharwad to KSR Bengaluru.
Authorities are preparing for a trial run between Dharwad and Belagavi next week, which will take place once a new rake (trainset) comes from the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, said Kusuma Hariprasad, Additional Divisional Railway Manager (Administration), Bengaluru.
The existing trainset cannot be used for the trial run because it requires maintenance on Tuesdays when the train doesn’t run, she added.
The commercial run of the KSR Bengaluru-Belagavi Vande Bharat will likely take place by the end of this month. The train will have eight coaches, but more may be added if there’s demand. The fare will be decided later, Hariprasad said.
While the railways hopes to draw passengers looking for comfort and luxury, some observers feel the travel time between Dharwad and Belagavi will still be higher than that by road. It takes less than two hours to travel between Dharwad and Belagavi (79 km).
Introduced on June 28, 2023, the Bengaluru-Dharwad Vande Bharat has received a fairly good response. The average occupancy has been 92 per cent for the executive class and 88 per cent for the chair car, officials say.