New Vande Bharat train: Mumbai to Mangaluru in 12 hours as Railways mulls merging two routes

Photo of a Vande Bharat train used for representational purpose

The Indian Railways is planning to introduce a new Vande Bharat train connecting Mumbai to Mangaluru directly by merging the existing Mumbai-Goa and Mangaluru-Goa routes.

These changes could shorten the travel time to around 12 hours.

According to Mangalore Today, the Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat, which currently departs Mumbai at 5.25 am and reaches Goa at 1.10 pm, will continue to Mangaluru, arriving there by 6.00 pm. Likewise, the Mangaluru-Goa service, departing at 8.30 am and reaching Goa at 1.10 pm, would extend to Mumbai, arriving by 9.00 pm.

The report also mentioned that platform congestion at Mumbai during the evening hours migh pose scheduling challenges as several long-distance trains arrive at the same time at Mumbai stations.

According to Matrabhumi, the Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat train initially had a high occupancy rate of around 90 percent, but this has now reduced to about 70 percent. Railways believe that combining the two services into a single Mumbai-Mangaluru route will help increase demand and ensure full occupancy.

Mumbai-based Konkan Vikas Samithi, a year ago, had opposed demands for merging of Mangaluru-Madgaon and Mumbai CSMT-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express services stating that such a move would adversely affect seat availability between Mumbai and Madgaon.