Railways complete trial run of new Vande Bharat train, reach Bengaluru in eight hours

BENGALURU: The trial run of the new Vande Bharat service running between Madurai and Bengaluru has been successfully completed. While other trains take ten hours and upwards, Vande Bharat’s running time between Madurai and Bengaluru is eight hours.

It was earlier decided that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would flag off the Vande Bharat train at a ceremony in Chennai on June 20, but with the postponement of his visit, the flag off ceremony has also been postponed.The trial run of the Bengaluru – Madurai Vandebharat Express train left Madurai Railway Station at 5:15 am and reached the SMVT terminal at Baiyappanahalli, Bengaluru at 1:15 pm. Returning from Bengaluru SMVT at 1:45 PM, Vande Bharat reached Madurai at 10:25 PM.Meanwhile, Kerala’s wait for the third Vande Bharat train service is getting longer. It has been months since it was said that the service from Kochi to Bengaluru would start soon. There were also reports that this train will be shifted to Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai route or Thiruvananthapuram-Coimbatore route.