Heavy rush of pilgrims: Railways announces Sabarimala special Vande Bharat; will operate in Chennai - Kottayam route twice a week

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Considering the heavy rush of pilgrims, the Southern Railway has announced a Sabarimala special Vande Bharat service to Kerala. The Vande Bharat special train has been announced on the Chennai-Kottayam-Chennai route. It will operate on two days in a week -Friday and Sunday. There will be four services from December 15 to December 24.

The Sabarimala Special Vande Bharat will start from Chennai Central Station at 8.30 am on Fridays and Sundays and will reach Kottayam at 7 pm. It will leave Kottayam at 9 pm and reach Chennai station the next morning.

The special train will have stops in Ernakulam North, Thrissur and Palakkad in Kerala. The train will also have stops in Pothanur, Erode, Salem, Jolarpettai and Katpadi.

The Railways decided to run the Vande Bharat special train as the number of Sabarimala pilgrims from Tamil Nadu has increased. Apart from this, another Vande Bharat special train will run on the Chennai-Coimbatore-Chennai route during the Christmas holidays.