Vande Bharat sleeper to Mumbai by August: Minister

Bengaluru: The highly anticipated Vande Bharat sleeper between KSR Bengaluru and CSMT Mumbai will hit the tracks by August. Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in an exclusive interaction with TOI on Saturday confirmed that the train will operate via Solapur and Kalaburagi.For more than a decade, Udyaan Express has been the only train to Mumbai, taking more than 24 hours for a single journey. The journey time via Vande Bharat is likely to be around 15 hours. Services will start in evening hours so that the train reaches destination at morning, sources say.Referring to India's first Vande Bharat sleeper between Howrah in Kolkata and Kamakhya in Guwahati, the minister said, "Super response from passengers. It's like 80% excellent and 20% very good—that is the feedback we have."On plans for future, Vaishnaw said a third route had been almost finalised. "We will be running one Vande Bharat sleeper between Bengaluru and Mumbai sometime between July and August," he said.The railways is also planning a superfast train service from Bengaluru to Mumbai via Hubballi and Pune, the minister said, adding that it will feature LHB coaches.Story 2Mangaluru-Bengaluru trial run soonBengaluru: Vande Bharat Express between Bengaluru and Mangaluru is now closer than ever, said railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw while mentioning that trial runs along the route were expected to commence shortly."The first challenge was electrification, because that section was a joint venture of the state govt and railways, and as funds were not coming from the state, we decided to do the entire work from central govt funds. That's why it was delayed," Vaishnaw said.He also said that the route had several technical challenges due to the ghat sections. Considering steep gradients (rise or fall of tracks), the 55-km stretch between Sakleshpura and Subrahmanya Road required all trains to have an auto emergency brake (AEB) arrangement. Unlike other trains, which run on external locomotives, the self-propelling Vande Bharat Express rakes were not equipped with AEB.The ministry has now decided to retrofit the AEB system in the train. "The trains have to be fitted with a particular device called AEB. That retrofitment has been done. Now we will provide Vand Bharat service to the entire coastal Karnataka, all the way from Madgaon (Goa) to Mangaluru and then from Mangaluru to Bengaluru," Vaishnaw said.On when the service will start, he said, "After the trials are completed and we get the safety certificates, then we can start." MSID:: 130517240 413 |
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