PALAKKAD: The rakes of the first Vande Bharat Express for Kerala have reached Palakkad. BJP workers gave a huge welcome to the train at Palakkad railway station. BJP leader and Indian Railway Passengers Amenities Committee chairman PK Krishnadas welcomed the loco pilot with garlands. The rakes will reach Kochiveli in the evening.
Ahead of the inaugural service, Southern Railway Manager will visit Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram to assess the arrangements. The Prime Minister will flag off the Vande Bharat service on April 25. PK Krishnadas said that Vande Bharat is the Prime Minister's 'Vishu Kaineetam' for the Malayalis. He said that there is no doubt that the 16-coach train will be of great benefit to the people of the state.
The Vande Bharat train will conduct one service per day. The time of Jan Shatabdi in the morning is being considered for this. There will be five or six stops till Kannur. The service will be via Kottayam as there is a double track. Electrification of two pit lines has been completed for this purpose at Kochuveli.
While the maximum speed of the Vande Bharat train is 180 kmph, work is underway in the state to strengthen the tracks to run the service at a minimum speed of 110 kmph. The routes of Maveli Express towards Thiruvananthapuram and Jan Shatabdi towards Kannur have been restricted to make way for Vande Bharat. While Maveli will operate till Kochuveli, Jan Shatabdi will run till Shoranur. Four new Vande Bharat trains are to be launched in the country soon. Two of these are in election-bound Karnataka.
Vande Bharat
200 sharp bends
High-speed trains in Kerala are hampered by sharp bends in railway tracks. There are 620 bends in the 560 km stretch from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram. Of these, the feasibility study to straighten two hundred sharp bends have not reached anywhere. The current speed on the tracks is 60 to 80 kmph.
Ticket prices will go up
From Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur, the ticket charge may be around 1345 rupees for a chair car and 2238 rupees for an executive coach. This is inclusive of the Rs 320 catering charge. The fare may be Rs 605 and Rs 1144 to Ernakulam and Rs 1130 and Rs 2138 to Kozhikode.