Rate to decrease in second Vande Bharat; inauguration to be done by Prime Minister on Sunday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala's second Vande Bharat Express train will run six days a week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Kasaragod - Thiruvananthapuram route through a video conference on Sunday afternoon. A venue will be prepared for the event at Palakkad Railway Divisional Office Headquarters.

Nine Vande Bharats, including Kerala's, will be inaugurated on Sunday. There will be a special service from Palakkad to Thiruvananthapuram after the inauguration. There will be no service on Monday and regular service is expected to start on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Kerala got the first Vande Bharat which sports the orange-gray colour. The train, handed over to the loco pilots of the Palakkad division, left Chennai Central at 2:40 pm and will reach Thiruvananthapuram today morning. The test run of the train was held on Tuesday at 10:30 pm on the Chennai-Katpadi route.

Nine stops

• Departure from Kasaragod at 7 am
• Reaching Thiruvananthapuram at 3:05 pm
• Stops- Kannur, Kozhikode, Shornur, Thrissur, Ernakulam Junction, Alappuzha, Kollam
• Kasaragod - Thiruvananthapuram journey - 8 hours
• Return journey – 7:55 hrs
• Kasaragod service on Monday and Thiruvananthapuram service on Tuesday will not be available due to maintenance.

Morning journey

• Kasaragod - 7:00 am
• Kannur- 8:05 am
• Kozhikode- 9:05 am
• Shornur- 10:05 am
• Thrissur- 10:40 am
• Ernakulam South- 11:48 am
• Alappuzha- 12:40 pm
• Kollam- 1:57 pm
• Thiruvananthapuram- 3:05 pm

Evening journey

• Thiruvananthapuram- 4:05 pm
• Kollam- 4:55 pm
• Alappuzha- 5:57 pm
• Ernakulam South- 6:38 pm
• Thrissur- 7:42 pm
• Shornur- 8:17 pm
• Kozhikode- 9:18 pm
• Kannur- 10:18 pm
• Kasaragod- 11:55 pm

Facilities to increase; rate as follows

• The ticket price will be reduced for travelling from Ernakulam to North
• Fare in Executive Class will be reduced by- Rs 90
• Rate for chair car will be reduced by- Rs 40
• Current fare for Thiruvananthapuram-Ernakulam Executive Class-Rs.1260.
• For chair car- Rs 617
• As the service is through Alappuzha, the distance will be reduced by 16 km
• 25 changes from the current Vande Bharat
• The colour of the seat cushion is dark blue
• Changes in seat arrangement, toilet, mobile charger under the seat etc
• The most profitable Vande Bharat service in the country will be in Kerala