Business
Third Vande Bharat Express is slated to be flagged off from Gandhinagar on 30 September.
Passengers would pay Rs 2,349 as base fare for the Executive Class and Rs 1,144 for the Chair Car besides the GST in the Vande Bharat Express travel between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
The third Vande Bharat would have only two stoppages between Mumbai and Ahmedabad thus reducing travel time considerably between the two financial hubs of the country.
Equipped with the faster acceleration and deceleration, the indigenously built semi-high speed train would stop at Surat and Vadodara during the 491 km long journey between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
According to the fare structure being finalised by the Railways, Vande Bharat passengers will have to shell out 1.4 times the base fare of Shatabdi Express trains while the GST is expected to be 5 per cent.
The base fare from Ahmedabad to Surat is expected to be Rs 1,312 for Executive Class (EC) and Rs 634 for Chair Car (CC) while the travel from Surat to Mumbai would be Rs 1,522 for EC and Rs 739 for CC.
Currently two Vande Bharat Express trains are operational - one runs from New Delhi to Katra and other one from New Delhi to Varanasi.
The 16 fully air-conditioned coaches with bio-vacuum toilets and Wi-Fi service is slated to be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Gandhinagar on 30 September as all required mandatory clearances are in place for its inaugural run between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
The catering facility would be provided by IRCTC.