BENGALURU: Passengers on board the Vande Bharat Express between Bengaluru and Mysuru say they are bowled over by the ambience and the comfort offered in the semi-high speed train. Members of the media from Bengaluru were on Thursday taken on a trip in the train from KSR Bengaluru City Railway Station which commenced from Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MGR Chennai Central Station at 5.50 am. The 138-km trip to Mysuru from KSR Bengaluru started from Platform 7 at 10.23 am and reached Mysuru at 12.10 pm.
Against the complaint from some passengers that the charges are exorbitantly high, those who took the Vande Bharat Express say the experience is worth the fare. It was a completely chilled-out atmosphere inside the train with some watching movies on their mobile phones, some hooked on to social media and a few others buried in books. Some were even seen using their laptops.
Fida, a quality analyst travelling with her mother, counted the ease of booking and punctuality of the train timings as major pluses. “It is quite affordable as the fare includes snacks too. Cleanliness is maintained and the food served is hygienic,” she added.
IIT Madras Prof Sekar C and his wife Deepa were also floored by the experience. “The food is excellent. The journey is better than taking a flight. The fare is justified. It is so spacious and I will recommend it to others,” he said.
Another passenger, Divya, whose family has come down from Seattle for a vacation, also took the train. “It is amazing. I went on the Bengaluru-Mysuru route earlier with my late grandfather and wanted my daughter to have the same experience,” Divya said.
The 16-coach train with a seating capacity of 1,128 passengers had 586 passengers from Bengaluru to Mysuru (52%) while it was 330 from Mysuru to Bengaluru (30%), said a senior Railways official. “Data assessed for November and December (it was launched on November 11) reveals 100% occupancy on the route between Chennai and Bengaluru. Occupancy dipped to 55% between Bengaluru and Mysuru and to 45% from Mysuru and Bengaluru,” the official said.
Vande Bharat Express can reach a maximum speed of 180 kmph. However, the unique display board on every coach shows that the realtime speed has never crossed 100 kmph between Bengaluru and Mysuru. There are over 125 curves, many of which are sharp ones, to prevent faster running of the trains between the two cities.
Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru Railway Division, Kusuma Hariprasad, said, “The tracks between Bengaluru and Mysuru have a maximum permissible speed of 100 kmph only. We are looking at the possibility to upgrade the tracks to withstand 110 kmph. Once our technical team submits its report, we have to assess the feasibility and start the work.” Between Jolarpettai and Bengaluru, trains run at 110 kmph already and by September, the tracks on that stretch will be able to withstand 130 kmph, she said.