Center's special gift to southern railway; two more Vande Bharats on track

CHENNAI: Two more Vande Bharat trains have been allotted to southern railways. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the services tomorrow. Along with this, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate the Meerut-Lucknow Vande Bharat train service tomorrow.

The service of special trains will be on Chennai Egmore-Nagercoil, Bengaluru Cantonment-Madurai routes. The train will start its journey from Chennai at 12.30 pm and will reach Nagercoil at 9.30 pm.

The second train will leave Madurai at 12:30 pm and reach Bengaluru Cantonment at 9:30 pm. It started as a special service, but it will become a regular service from the second of next month. There will be a change in time then.

On regular service, the train will start its journey from Chennai at 5 am and reach Nagercoil at 1.50 pm. The train will depart from Nagercoil at 2.20 pm and reach Chennai at 11 pm. There will be no service on Wednesdays.

The second train will leave Madurai at 5.15 am and reach Bengaluru Cantonment at 1 pm. The return train starts at half past one and will return to Madurai at 9.45 pm. There will be no service on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Vande Bharat special train service on the Ernakulam-Bengaluru route is resting on the Ernakulam track during Onam season in Kerala. Many people buy bus tickets from Bengaluru by spending huge amount of money. The Railways did not consider the people's representatives and passenger organizations demanding the continuation of the service.

Vande Bharat rake with eight coaches which was in service till 26th of this month is now at Ernakulam Junction (South) railway station. Ernakulam authorities have made preparations to continue the service, but no decision has been taken. Private bus ticket prices on the Bengaluru - Ernakulam route have been doubled in the days approaching Onam. It is likely to rise further.