The Southern Railways now have a maximum number of Vande Bharat services in the country, with a total of six. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated nine new Vande Bharat services across the country on Sunday. Three new services were added to the Southern Railways. The Northern Railways have four services while the Western Railways and the South-Eastern Railways have three each. There are now a total of 34 Vande Bharat services across India.

The three Vande Bharat services for the Southern Railways were between Tirunelveli and Chennai Egmore; Central and Vijayawada and Dr MGR Chennai Central and Kasaragod — Thiruvananthapuram (via Alappuzha).

Hitherto, the Vande Bharat services in the Southern Railways were from Chennai Central to Mysore; Chennai Central to Coimbatore; and Kasargod to Thirvanthapuram (via Kottayam).

The 8-coach Vande Bharat train between Chennai Egmore and Tirunelveli will stop at Tambaram, Villupuram, Tiruchirapalli, Dindigul, Madurai and Virudhunagar stations.

“Another gift of Vande Bharat for Tamil Nadu. This new semi-high-speed train will connect major pilgrimage and business hubs in the State, offering faster and more comfortable travel to passengers,” says a tweet by the Southern Railways on the new service for the zone.

Services and Fare

From Monday, Train No. 20665 Chennai Egmore — Tirunelveli Vande Bharat Express (except Tuesday), will leave Chennai Egmore at 14.50 hrs to reach Tirunelveli at 22.40 hrs. In the return direction, train No. 20666 will leave Tirunelveli at 06.00 hrs on September 27 to reach Chennai Egmore at 13.50 hrs. The fare for AC Chair Car from Tirunelveli to Chennai Egmore is ₹1,320 and for Executive Chair Car is ₹2,540, says a release.

The Vande Bharat service between Thiruvananthapuram Central and Kasargod will stop at Kollam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Shoranur, Tirur, Kozhikode and Kannur.

From September 26, train No. 20632 will leave Thiruvananthapuram Central at 16.05 hrs to reach Kasaragod at 23.58 hrs. In the return direction, train No. 20631 will leave Kasaragod at 07.00 hrs from September 27 to reach Thiruvananthapuram Central at 15.05 hrs. It will have eight coaches.

Starting September 25, the Vande Bharat services between Vijayawada and Chennai will be via Renigunta with train No. 20677 from Dr MGR Chennai Central (except Tuesday) leaving at 05.30 hrs to reach Vijayawada at 12.10 hrs. In the return direction, Train No. 20678 will leave Vijayawada on September 25 at 15.20 hrs and reach Dr MGR Chennai Central at 12.10 hrs, the release said.

The Indian Railways in a tweet says the services between Chennai and Vijayawada will help in forging deeper connections of historical, cultural and business ties between Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The other six Vande Bharat services launched on Sunday are Udaipur – Jaipur; Hyderabad –Bengaluru; Patna – Howrah; Rourkela - Bhubaneswar – Puri; Ranchi – Howrah and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad.

“Improving connectivity”

When compared with the current fastest train along the route, the Rourkela to Puri and Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat service will be faster by about 3 hours; the Hyderabad to Bengaluru Vande Bharat by more than 2.5 hours; the Tirunelveli to Chennai by more than 2 hours; Ranchi to Howrah; Patna to Howrah and Jamnagar to Ahmedabad by about 1 hour; and Udaipur to Jaipur by about half an hour, the release said

In line with the Prime Minister’s vision to improve the connectivity of important religious places across the country, Rourkela- Bhubaneswar – Puri Vande Bharat Express and Tirunelveli-Madurai- Chennai Vande Bharat Express will connect important religious towns of Puri and Madurai. Also, the Vijayawada – Chennai Vande Bharat Express will operate via the Renigunta route and will provide connectivity to Tirupati Pilgrimage centre, the release said.

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