The commercial operation of Vande Bharat Express began on a high note and the train made its maiden service from Mysuru on Saturday.
The train was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and the inaugural service was from Bengaluru to Chennai.
A large number of BJP supporters had gathered at the Mysuru station to greet the train and waved placards of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pratap Simha, MP.
The inward movement from Chennai to Bengaluru saw high occupancy rate of the premium train while 110 passengers travelled between Bengaluru and Mysuru.
In the return direction though, the response was more muted owing to many factors. There were 132 passengers who had booked their tickets from Mysuru to Bengaluru and 4 from Mysuru to Katpadi while 77 passengers travelled from Mysuru to Chennai. In addition, 99 passengers travelled from Mysuru to Bengaluru by purchasing tickets from the current booking counter. There were passengers who also boarded the train from Bengaluru for the journey to Chennai but their numbers were relatively less.
Sources said incessant rains in Chennai may also have led many potential passengers to postpone or cancel their travel plans. Besides, there is also no dearth of express/passenger trains connecting Bengaluru with Chennai and the services include 2 Shatabdis, Brindavan Express and Double Decker Express.
Other sources said as many as 1,324 persons utilised the Vande Bharat train on the first day of the commercial run and say the figures are impressive for the opening day. The train has 14 AC Chair Car coaches each with a capacity to carry 78 passengers while there are 2 Executive Class coaches each with a capacity of carrying 52 passengers.
