Bengaluru/Chennai: Bengaluru is set to get its eighth Vande Bharat Express next week.
The Madurai-Bengaluru Vande Bharat will cover the distance of 430 km in less than eight hours, faster than express trains that currently take over nine hours. The train will have stoppages at KR Puram, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Tiruchirapalli and Dindigul.
Train number 20671 will depart from Madurai at 5.15 am and reach Bengaluru Cantonment at 1 pm. In the return direction, train number 20672 will leave Bengaluru Cantonment at 1.30 pm and reach Madurai by 9.45 pm. It will run six days a week (no service on Tuesdays) and be served by an eight-coach rake. It will have seven chair cars and one executive class.
The premium train will be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi via video conference on Saturday.
According to an official in the South Western Railway (SWR), Minister of State for Railways V Somanna will likely participate in the event.
While a notification about the train's commercial operations is yet to be issued by the Railway Board, the official said it would likely be next week. The fare structure will also be known later, he added.
The train will be maintained by the Southern Railway at Madurai Junction.
Bengaluru currently has Vande Bharat trains to Chennai/Mysuru (two), and Dharwad, Kalaburagi, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Ernakulam (one each). There is also demand for introducing the premium train from Bengaluru to Vijayapura, Belagavi and Mangaluru.
Published 29 August 2024, 21:56 IST