Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to flag off nine new Vande Bharat train routes on September 24. All of these nine trains will have eight coaches each.
The new routes which include a second Vande Bharat train for Kerala will run from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur to Udaipur, Vijayawada to Chennai, Tirunelveli to Chennai, Jamnagar to Ahmedabad, Ranchi to Howrah, Secunderabad (Kacheguda) to Bengaluru (Yesvantpur), Rourkela to Puri and Patna to Howrah.
Introduction of the new trains will increase the number of Vande Bharat routes to 32.
While the first Vande Bharat in Kerala passes through Kottayam, the second train will pass through Alappuzha or Alleppey. A second Vande Bharat has been introduced on the route as it enjoys an occupancy rate of 177% as per data accessed for April to July. Other popular existing routes are Vishakhapatnam to Secunderabad, Mumbai to Ahmedabad, Mumbai to Solapur, Patna to Ranchi, Varanasi to Delhi, Delhi to Katra, and Delhi to Dehradun which enjoyed full occupancy during the period.
Departing from the usual white and blue livery, the new Vande Bharat trains are painted saffron and grey.
The new services will help in improving connectivity across multiple States. For instance, while Jamnagar to Ahmedabad service is being launched, there is already an existing Vande Bharat train running between Jodhpur to Ahmedabad. Also while Chennai to Vijayawada and Tirunelveli routes are being launched, there are already existing popular routes between Chennai to Mysuru and Coimbatore. Occupancy for Chennai to Mysuru route was 77% while for Chennai to Coimbatore, it stood at 98% between April to July.
