Kerala to get its Vande Bharat Express train

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Indian Railways have started the steps to include Kerala among the route of Vande Bharat train. Kerala is the only state in South India where the Vande Bharat train does not run service. The central policy is is not to grant Vande Bharat train directly to the states. Vande Bharat trains are in Secunderabad and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, Bengaluru in Karnataka, Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. It was alleged that Kerala was neglected. Kerala CM had also filed a complaint to the Centre. Following this, it has now been decided to include Kerala in the route. A decision will be taken within one month.

Three proposals are under consideration by the Railways. Currently, one of them is to extend the Vande Bharat service from Coimbatore to Bengaluru, to Kochi. Another is to extend Vande Bharat from Coimbatore to Chennai, to Mangalore. Apart from this, a low-speed service from Kochuveli to Mangalore is also being considered. With the track and signal systems in Kerala, the service can only be run at an average speed of 65 km.

Vande Bharat Express requires two types of maintenance depots for maintenance of chair cars and trains. Both of these are not available in Kerala. Funds were allotted to other states for the maintenance depots.