Karnataka’s Second Vande Bharat: Trial Run Begins Between Bengaluru And Hubballi-Dharwad, Ahead Of Launch On 26 June

On Monday (19 June) morning, the Vande Bharat Express conducted a trial run between Bengaluru and Hubballi-Dharwad in preparation for its upcoming launch.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the super-fast train service in Karnataka on 26 June, reports Hindustan Times.

South Western Railways reported that the new eight-car Vande Bharat Express departed from Bengaluru's Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) station at 5:45am for a trial run to Dharwad station, where it is scheduled to arrive at 12:45pm.

The train will then depart from Dharwad station at 1:15pm and arrive at KSR station by 8:10pm.

This marks the second Vande Bharat Express for Karnataka, with the brand-new eight-car train set having arrived Bengaluru's KSR station from Chennai's Integrated Coach Factory last week.

The travel time between Bengaluru and Hubballi-Dharwad on the Vande Bharat train is expected to be approximately seven hours, compared to the nine to ten hours required by other trains.

Railways will launch Vande Bharat trains on four more routes from 26 June.

Along with Bengaluru-Hubballi route, the other routes includes Mumbai-Goa, Patna-Ranchi, Bhopal-Indore, and Bhopal-Jabalpur.

With the launch of new routes, Railways will be operationalising Vande Bharat Express trains on 23 routes across the country.

The Chennai–Bengaluru–Mysuru train which was launched in November last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first Vande Bharat Express for southern India.