BHUBANESWAR: Indian Railways will soon launch a Vande Bharat train between Puri and Howrah. The semi high speed train - likely to be flagged off next month - will have limited stoppages between the two stations. Sources said the train may run on the Puri-Bhubaneswar-Howrah route to cater to the rush for Puri that attracts a huge number of pilgrims and tourists from West Bengal and across the country.
Initially, the train will run thrice a week - Monday, Friday and Saturday. It will have halts at Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Kharagpur between Puri and Howrah. The decision to introduce the train was taken after the entire stretch from Howrah to Khurda Road section was upgraded for maximum permissible speed of 130 kmph.
Though the date of commencement is yet to be announced, sources said, it will take five hours and 30 minutes to cover a distance of around 500 km. The train will depart Puri at 2 pm and reach Howrah at 7.30 pm.
Sources said, the new Vande Bharat rake left the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai for Howrah on Wednesday. After primary maintenance, the rake will be brought back to Puri for the flagging-off ceremony. The Rail ministry is also studying feasibility of running Vande Bharat Express trains on other routes. The service requires support from the state government to remove encroachment on railway tracks and installation of fences on two sides.
Vande Bharat, an electric multiple-unit, semi-high-speed train with automatic doors, a GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system, can not run at its full speed unless encroachment is removed throughout the tracks.