Vande Bharat trains: With Goa and Jharkhand getting their first pair of Vande Bharat trains on Tuesday, all states across India that are rail-electrified will now be connected with these semi-high speed trains.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate five pairs of Vande Bharat trains on Tuesday from poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. These trains will connect Bhopal-Jabalpur, Bhopal-Indore, Madgaon-Mumbai, Dharwad-Bengaluru and Hatia-Patna.
While Bihar is also getting its first dedicated Vande Bharat train, the state was already connected with the semi-high speed train that was operating between Howrah and New Jalpaiguri.
Madhya Pradesh, which will go to polls later this year, is getting two pairs of Vande Bharat trains. In April, the state got its first Vande Bharat for Delhi from Bhopal. With the new trains, Bhopal will have three Vande Bharats.
Speaking to News18, a ministry official said, “It is the first time that five (Vande Bharat) trains are being inaugurated in one day. With these trains, all the states that are rail-electrified have at least one pair of Vande Bharat.”
While the rest of the India is connected with Vande Bharat, North East India is yet to get these trains, apart from Assam, which has one pair of Vande Bharat operational.
According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s office, the Prime Minister will flag off five Vande Bharat Express at a public programme organised at Rani Kamalapati Railway Station, Bhopal.
“Rani Kamalapati-Jabalpur Vande Bharat Express will connect Mahakaushal Region (Jabalpur) to the Central Region (Bhopal) of Madhya Pradesh. Also, tourist places like Bheraghat, Pachmarhi, Satpura etc will also be benefitted by improved connectivity. The train will be faster by about thirty minutes compared to the existing fastest train in the route,” it said.
The Khajuraho-Bhopal-Indore Vande Bharat Express will improve the connectivity of Malwa Region and Bundelkhand Region to Central Region.
This will benefit the important tourist sites such as Mahakaleshwar, Mandu, Maheshwar, Khajuraho, Panna. The train will be about two hours and thirty minutes faster than the fastest existing train on the route, it said.
The Madgaon-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express will be Goa’s first Vande Bharat Express. It will run between Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Goa’s Madgaon station. “It will help save about one hour of journey time, when compared with the current fastest train connecting the two places,” it added.
Dharwad-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express will connect important cities in Karnataka – Dharwad, Hubballi and Davangere – with state capital Bengaluru.
It will immensely benefit tourists, students, industrialists, etc. in the region. The train will be faster by about thirty minutes compared to the existing fastest train in the route.
Hatia-Patna Vande Bharat Express will be the first Vande Bharat for Jharkhand and Bihar. “Enhancing connectivity between Patna and Ranchi, the train will be a boon for tourists, students and businessmen. It will help save about one hour and twenty five minutes journey time, when compared with the current fastest train connecting the two places,” it added.
