BHUBANESWAR: Riding on the success of Vande Bharat trains, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said Vande Sleeper and Vande Metro will soon be rolled out in the country. Speaking at the flagging off ceremony of Odisha’s first Vande Bharat Express at Puri station, Vaishnaw said, the sleeper and metro trains are now under development and will be ready by January-February next year.
“After the Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat, we have urged the Prime Minister for the second train on the Bhubaneswar-Rourkela route connecting Talcher, Angul, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda. Thereafter, the Vande Sleeper and Vande Metro will be introduced in the state,” he said.
Sleeper version of Vande Bharat trains has been planned for middle and long-distance journeys. Vande Metro, the short-distance version of the indigenous Vande Bharat, will be introduced between the cities with a distance of less than 100 km and run at high frequency - four to five times a day. “We are planning to run Vande Metro on the busy Puri-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack route,” the minister said.
Vaishnaw’s cabinet colleague and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan took the occasion to request extension of the proposed Puri-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Vande Metro to Dhenkanal.Expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vaishnaw for launching of Vande Bharat Express train between Jagannath Dham Puri and Howrah in record time and just before the Rath Yatra, Pradhan said apart from boosting tourism and fostering economic growth between Odisha and West Bengal, the train service will bring in new possibilities for the state.
Pradhan said tendering process for the proposed Capital Ring Road to provide a by-pass around Bhubaneswar and Cuttack has begun. He requested Vaishnaw to realign the Vande Metro rail line along the coastal ring road to connect Dhenkanal so that people of the district get to enjoy the benefit of the metro train services.