To make it viable, Indore-Bhopal Vande Bharat train extended to Nagpur

Nagpur: In a major move to befit passengers of two poll-bound states — Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the ministry of railways has extended the Indore-Bhopal Vande Bharat Express to Nagpur from October 9.

A notification issued on October 8, 2023, by Vivek Kumar Sinha, joint director (coaching), Railway Board, states that the 20911/20912 Vande Bharat has been extended up to Nagpur with immediate effect. The train will also have a stoppage at Itarsi.

Vande Bharat operates at 110-130kmph, and with this, now passengers travelling between Nagpur-Bhopal-Ujjain-Indore will reach in 8.5 hours and from Bhopal in 5.5 hours. The conventional mail/express trains take at least 12 hours to reach Indore.

“Though every passing train towards the north has a stoppage at Bhopal, passenger trains to Indore are very few. Also, these trains do not operate on all weekdays. Indore is a commercial metro having business links to Nagpur. The extended Vande Bharat will be a big advantage for the business community and tourists too,” said Brij Bhushan Shukla, Rail Yatri Sangh (BYS), who had raised the issue in Zonal Railway Users Committee (ZRUCC) meeting.

The train will leave Indore at 6.10am and reach Nagpur at 2.30pm. It will depart from Nagpur at 3.20pm and reach Indore at 11.45pm. The train will have only four stoppages — Ujjain, Bhopal, Itarsi and Nagpur.

Sources said the Nagpur Central Railway officials are working out the modalities to admit the train and adjust other mail/express trains clashing with the extended train timings.

Railway analysts say more than making a fast train service available to people here, the extension also deals with making the train commercially viable. The Bhopal-Indore Vande Bharat was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 27.

Though the Bhopal-Indore Vande Bharat (248km) aimed to improve connectivity to Malwa, Bundelkhand, and the central region of Bhopal, due to high fares for a short distance, not many passengers preferred this train.

The fare for a chair car is Rs910 while the executive class is Rs1,335. On the contrary, there are several AC deluxe buses charging Rs330 to Rs365 and taking almost the same time to cover the Bhopal-Indore distance and are available round the clock. Besides, there are five other trains available on the same route including Bhopal-Ambedkar Nagar Intercity Express which takes 3.55 hours and charges Rs365 only for chair car services.

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargia too recently requested railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to extend the Indore Vade Bharat to Nagpur.


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