BENGALURU: The first trial run of the Vande Bharat Express between Bengaluru Cantonment and Coimbatore Junction was conducted successfully from both ends by the Southern Railway and South Western Railway Zones on Wednesday. The 380-km journey took 5 hours and 38 minutes on the onward run from Coimbatore and 6 hours and 2 minutes during the return trip from Bengaluru Cantonment. The first commercial run will take place very shortly and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually launch it on Saturday.
According to Chief Public Relations Officer, B Guganesan, “The train left Coimbatore at 5 am and reached Bengaluru at 10.38 am with Railway officials of both the zones on board. In return, it left Bengaluru at 1.40 pm and reached Coimbatore at 7.42 pm. The fare details are yet to be finalised. The tentative stoppages are Tiruppur, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri and Hosur,” he added.
A senior Railway official of the Bengaluru Division said that the exact fare and time taken will be fine tuned shortly. “This is just a trial during which we are trying to finalise the timings so that the operations of other trains do not get impacted. The inaugural special will be launched by the Prime Minister from Ayodhya on December 30 with five other Vande Bharat trains and two Amrit Bharat trains. The fare structure is still being worked out,” he said.
There were nearly 70 Railway staff on board, including Bengaluru Divisional Operations Manager,
Ranganath Reddy.