KOCHI: Raking in a revenue of Rs 73.35 lakh in the August to October 2025 period, the 20632 Thiruvananthapuram-Mangaluru Vande Bharat (VB) Express has topped among the Vande Bharat services being conducted by the Southern Railways.
As per the data released by the Southern Railway, this is the highest among its 24 Vande Bharat services, connecting key cities across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
The data also revealed that the number of bookings for the train service too is the highest at 11,896, compared to the 2,832 of 20627 Chennai Egmore-Nagercoil Vande Bharat Express and 20642 Coimbatore Junction-Bengaluru Cantonment Vande Bharat’s 835 for the same period.
As of 2025-26, the Southern Railway’s Vande Bharat services together carried 77.38 lakh passengers, generating earnings of Rs 803.86 crore, as against 54.12 lakh passengers and Rs 540.65 crore in 2024-25.
Several trains, including the Mangaluru-Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai Egmore-Nagercoil and Kasaragod–Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat services, have consistently recorded occupancy levels well above 100%, underscoring their popularity among passengers.
In the first two months of 2026-27 (April–May 2026) alone, these trains have carried 15.21 lakh passengers, and earned Rs 162.96 crore, indicating that the strong demand trend continues unabated.
While occupancy levels remained consistently high, the Southern Railways initiative has allowed passengers to book and avail vacant accommodation at the originating stations and all the en route stations up to 15 minutes before departure of train.
A comparison of the period after implementation (August–October 2025) for the eight pilot trains shows a marked increase in both current-booking passengers and revenue across nearly every route.
The Southern Railway’s fleet of Vande Bharat Express trains continues to receive overwhelming patronage from the travelling public, with both ridership and earnings recording sustained growth year after year.