Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bangalore/railways-proposes-vande-bharat-train-on-bengaluru-hubballi-route-as-well-8260394/
Publisher: Indian Express
South India’s first Vande Bharat train from Mysuru to Chennai via Bengaluru is set to be inaugurated by PM Modi tomorrow. BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya had earlier requested the Railway Ministry to run similar trains on the Bengaluru-Hubballi and Bengaluru-Coimbatore routes.
The South Western Railway (SWR) has written to the Railway Board to run a new high-speed Vande Bharat train service in Karnataka’s Bengaluru-Hubballi route, even as the first such train in south India from Mysuru to Chennai via Bengaluru is set to be inaugurated Friday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sanjay Kishore, the general manager of the south-western zone, has also formally informed the matter to Lahar Singh Siroya, the BJP MP from Karnataka.
The Rajya Sabha MP had earlier requested the Railway Ministry to run Vande Bharat trains on the Bengaluru-Hubballi and Bengaluru-Coimbatore routes, apart from the Chennai route.
“The Railway board has asked the time-table to run Vande Bharat from SBC to UBL (Bengaluru City to Hubballi) and the proposal has been sent by SWR to the Railway Board,” the SWR general manager said in a letter to the BJP MP last week
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off south India’s first Vande Bharat train from Bengaluru on November 11. The train will run a bit faster than the existing Shatabdi Express.
The train will operate on the Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai route like the Shatabdi Express. Though it has the capacity to run at 160-180km/hr, it will run at a speed of 75-77km/hr in the existing routes.
Earlier this week, the trial run of the Vande Bharat Express was successfully conducted from Chennai to Mysuru. The train started at 5.50 am Monday from Dr. MGR Chennai Central station and reached Mysuru at 12.30 pm with stoppages at Katpadi and KSR Bengaluru. In the reverse direction, the trial run started from Mysuru Junction at 1.05 pm and reached Chennai at 7.35 pm the same day.
According to the Railways, the trial run was conducted to familiarise the train crew with the working of the train, route, signals, and safety parameters and also to acquaint the onboard coach maintenance crew with the interiors and technical features.
The SWR general manager has also informed MP Lahar Singh that a re-invited tender for the redevelopment of the Cantonment Railway Station in Bengaluru would be opened on November 23 and that the tender for the redevelopment of the Yesvantpur station was awarded on October 18.
