Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated five pairs of Vande Bharat trains across the country in April. The latest was in Kerala on April 25, 2023.
According to railway ministry officials, Vande Bharat will be flagged off on the Puri-Howrah route in Odisha next month. This will be the first Vande Bharat train not only for Odisha but also for South Eastern Railway
After making their debut in Rajasthan and Kerala, Vande Bharat trains will soon start in Odisha, with railway ministry officials confirming to News18 that the coastal state will welcome the first of the premium trains next month. An official said that the train will run between Howrah in West Bengal and Puri in Odisha.
Speaking to News18, a ministry official said that empty rakes of Vande Bharat trains reached West Bengal on Thursday. “In the coming days, we will do a trial run of the Vande Bharat train,” said the official, requesting anonymity.
The demand for Vande Bharat services in Odisha is long pending. In November last year, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav had announced that Vande Bharat Express would be introduced in Odisha in 2023.
This will be the first Vande Bharat train not only for Odisha but also for South Eastern Railway. This will be the second Vande Bharat for West Bengal as well. The state had received the first Vande Bharat train in December last year.
The Railway Ministry official quoted above said that the exact route and timing of the train is yet to be decided.
Presently, Shatabdi train runs on Puri-Howrah route. With six stoppages, the train takes eight hours from Puri and 7.35 hours from Howrah to complete the journey.
After missing the target of the last financial year, the Ministry of Railways is now gearing up for the production and delivery of Vande Bharat trains. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated five pairs of Vande Bharat trains across the country in April alone.
On 1 April, the Vande Bharat train was inaugurated between Rani Kamlapati and Delhi. On 8 April, two sets of trains – Secunderabad-Tirupati and Chennai-Coimbatore – were launched. Ajmer-Delhi Cantonment Vande Bharat was flagged off on 12th April. On 25 April, the Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod Vande Bharat was launched.
With this, the total number of Vande Bharat trains running across India will reach 16.