The trial run of the much-awaited Vande Bharat Express between Chennai Central and Coimbatore was held on Thursday. The train left the M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station at 5.40 a.m. and reached Coimbatore at 11:15 a.m.
A Southern Railway official said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would flag off the train in Chennai on April 8. During the trial, technical issues were previewed by the officials and they would be rectified. This indigenously-designed train was equipped with state-of-the-art passenger amenities.
“The fares are yet to be determined and will be done soon,” the official said.
According to Southern Railways, the Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) installed six coaches for the facility. The Southern railways had not released the official timeline and stoppage details at the time of filing the report.
Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Committee member K. Jayaraj said, “The amenities will be flight-like, but the fare will, hopefully, be nominal enough for passengers, especially those who frequently use omnibus services. The speed of the train, at present, is estimated to be 110km per hour. If an aggressive timetable is followed, this can be increased to 130 km/hr. Further, similar to omnibus services, more boarding and deboarding points can be added before bulleting towards the destination. Coimbatore North and Tambaram stations can serve as additional boarding points.”
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