Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off nine Vande Bharat trains via video conferencing on Sunday. The event was also attended by Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. These new Vande Bharat trains will be connected to 11 states and will also ply to famous religious sites like Puri, Madurai and Tirupati.
Modi posted a tweet congratulating the prime minister on his arrival. The trains will strengthen connectivity across states namely Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Gujarat and Jharkhand.
The Kavach technology is among the most advanced safety features on these trains, which are equipped with top-notch amenities and cutting-edge safety features.
The new Via Vande Bharat trains are as follows:
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the nine Vande Bharat trains in terms of commuting time?
The new Vande Bharat trains will help save commuting time for passengers. The Rourkela-Bhubaneswar-Puri Vande Bharat Express and the Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express will both be faster by about three hours, while the Hyderabad-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express will be faster by nearly 2.5 hours.
The Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai Vande Bharat Express will be faster by over 2 hours, while the Patna-Howrah Vande Bharat Express and the Tirunelveli-Madurai-Howrah Vande Bharat Express will be faster by around an hour. The Udaipur-Jaipur Vande Bharat Express will be faster by around half an hour.
The Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai Vande Bharat Express will connect important religious towns of Puri and Madurai to connect the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar-Puri Vande Bharat Express. Vijayawada-Chennai Vande Bharat Express will operate via the route Renigunta and provide connectivity to the famous Tirupati pilgrimage centre.