The Southern Railway is making extensive arrangements for the inaugural run of the second Vande Bharat train allotted to Kerala.
The train will be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a function to be held on Sunday at 11 a.m. through videoconferencing from New Delhi, along with eight other trains allotted for various railway divisions across the country.
The inaugural service will be accorded grand public receptions at Payyannur, Kannur, Thalassery, Kozhikode, Tirur, Shoranur Junction Thrissur, Ernakulam Junction, Alappuzha, Kayamkulam Junction, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram stations, said a senior railway official.
As in the inaugural run of the first Vande Bharat service, a long list of dignitaries and invitees is being prepared by the Railways. There would be cultural programmes at select destinations in connection with the inaugural run. Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan will attend the function to be held in Kasaragod.
The eight-car rake will have a total seating capacity of 530 seats, including 52 executive chair car seats, while the first Vande Bharat allotted to the State has 16 coaches.
As per the tentative schedule prepared by the Railways, the train will depart Kasaragod at 7 a.m. and reach Thiruvananthapuram by 3.05 p.m. In the return trip, the train will leave Thiruvananthapuram Central by 4.05 p.m. and reach Kasaragod by 11.55 p.m.
There would not be any service on Monday as per the existing schedule as the day is earmarked for the weekly maintenance and inspection of the train. The weekly maintenance and inspection for the first Vande Bharat is on Thursday.
The train will be operated from Thiruvananthapuram Central station. The first trial run of the train was held on Thursday with the train leaving for Kasaragod from Thiruvananthapuram at 4.05 pm. The train will come back to Thiruvananthapuram on Friday and again leave for Kasaragod in the afternoon. Ahead of the trial run, the rake was brought to Kochuveli station early on Thursday morning.
