Indian Railways to launch fifth Vande Bharat train in South India on Chennai-Bengaluru route

Indian Railways is planning on launching the fifth Vande Bharat Express train in South India, covering the distance between Chennai-Bengaluru and Mysuru based on PTI's report.

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The Vande Bharat Express will make its southern debut on November 10 when its fifth edition begins service between Chennai-Bengaluru and Mysuru, as per report of PTI. It will travel approximately 483 kilometres. The third and fourth Vande Bharat Expresses from the poll-bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh were recently launched by the Railways. Meanwhile, Karnataka is expected to hold elections next year. It is to be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the latest Vande Bharat Express train on Thursday at Amb Andaura railway station in Himachal Pradesh's Una district. 

The train will cut travel time between Una, Chandigarh, and New Delhi and also comes equipped with advanced safety features. Vande Bharat 2.0 trains come fitted with the Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) called KAVACH, which the previous trains did not have. Coaches are equipped with disaster lights with a battery backup of three hours.

The train's exterior has eight flatform-side cameras, up from four. There is also a passenger-guard communication facility in coaches, which comes with an automatic voice recording feature.

Meanwhile, there are also reports that Indian Railways plans to launch super-fast parcel services in order to attract more high-value and time-sensitive commodities. Various modes of transportation are currently used to deliver special cargo categories. It should be noted that Vande Bharat platforms will be used to build these freight EMUs. The Vande Bharat trains have been tested at speeds ranging from 120 to 180 kmph; if used to transport freight, the train can significantly reduce transportation time.

Based on the interactions with some of the potential customers, the first service is will be introduced between the Delhi-NCR region and the Mumbai region. "Necessary infrastructure and facilities at the identified terminals may be created in a time-bound manner within the next three weeks," it added.

With inputs from PTI