Indian Railways is constantly expanding the presence of Vande Bharat Express trains in the country. The latest addition to the list is going to be the Bengaluru-Coimbatore route. The train on this is going to be inaugurated by the Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan. This will be the fourth route of the semi-high-speed train from the metro city. It is also the second Vande Bharat operating between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
There are currently Vande Bharat Trains from Bengaluru to Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysuru, Hubballi, Dharwad, and Belagavi. The Railway Ministry recently announced an extension of the Bengaluru – Dharwad Vande Bharat Express to Belagavi in north Karnataka. This is anticipated to improve the journey for passengers on the route by reducing the travel time between the north Karnataka region and the capital city.
With this semi-high-speed rail, the train journey from Bengaluru to Coimbatore will take only about six hours. Reports suggest there might be stops at Tirupur, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, and Hosur on this Vande Bharat Express. The schedule and the prices of the tickets have not yet been officially revealed, though.
Earlier, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that he has plans to add 3,000 new trains over the course of the next four to five years, increasing the railways’ current passenger capacity of 800 crore to 1,000 crore. The PTI news agency reports that there are 69,000 new coaches available and that approximately 5,000 new coaches are manufactured annually.
According to the agency, the railroads can add 200–250 new trains per year with all of these initiatives. In addition, 400–450 Vande Bharat trains will be added in the upcoming years.
The railway minister added that the railways are working towards a train with integrated 22 coaches (a train set with 22 coaches), which will offer several advantages for the passengers, as opposed to a train with separate coaches connected together.