BENGALURU, November 1 (Aalimi Nation) – Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday flagged off the Bengaluru–Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper train from Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal in Bengaluru, launching a service that officials say will cut the overnight journey between the two cities to about 16 hours.
The train has 16 coaches in three classes: First AC, AC Two-Tier and AC Three-Tier. Officials said it will run six days a week and does not leave Bengaluru on Mondays or Mumbai on Tuesdays.
The service will halt at Anantapur, Guntakal, Raichur, Yadgir, Kalaburagi, Solapur, Pune and Kalyan. Vaishnaw said the route serves parts of North Karnataka that previously had no world-class train service.
Passenger features include cushioned berths, reading lights, charging points, luggage space, bio-vacuum toilets, automatic doors, infotainment and GPS-based passenger information displays. First AC coaches also have hot-water showers. For safety, the train carries CCTV cameras, fire detection systems and emergency communication facilities.
The launch coincided with Karnataka Rajyotsava, the state's formation day. Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi, H.D. Kumaraswamy, Shobha Karandlaje and V. Somanna were present at the ceremony in Bengaluru.
Vaishnaw said the train "will seamlessly connect India's IT and startup hub with its financial capital." The service connects Bengaluru, the centre of India's technology industry, with Mumbai, its financial capital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the launch in a post on social media. He described the train as a "game changer for connectivity between Bengaluru and Mumbai" and said it would benefit Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, the three states through which the line passes. The Prime Minister said the service would be especially useful for young people, IT professionals and students.
Speaking at the event, Vaishnaw also referred to projects planned for the region. He said Prime Minister Modi had approved a bullet train corridor in the south linking Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Amravati and Chennai. Once the line is complete, he said, the journey between Bengaluru and Chennai is expected to take 73 minutes.
The minister added that the Mangaluru–Bengaluru Vande Bharat service is expected to begin operating within a few weeks. No date for the southern bullet train corridor was given, and the construction timeline, cost and land acquisition plans for the project were not detailed at the ceremony.
The Vande Bharat Sleeper is the overnight version of the semi-high-speed Vande Bharat trains that Indian Railways has introduced on several routes. While the chair-car services are meant for daytime travel, the sleeper variant offers berths so that passengers can travel through the night between distant cities.
Railway officials have yet to announce the full timetable and fare details in the material available at the time of the flag-off. The planned Mangaluru–Bengaluru Vande Bharat service is the next addition to the Karnataka network that the minister mentioned, and he said it is expected within a few weeks.
