Karnataka's second Vande Bharat Express to run on Bengaluru-Hubballi-Dharwad route

Karnataka's second Vande Bharat Express on Bengaluru-Hubballi-Dharwad route by June

Karnataka will soon have its second Vande Bharat Express running on the Bengaluru-Hubballi-Dharwad route.

The trial run of the train is expected to commence on April 12, and commercial operations are likely to begin by the end of May or the first week of June, after the assembly polls on May 10.

The Bengaluru-Hubballi main line has been electrified, following the commissioning of the Devaragudda-Hubballi section on March 31.

This will be the second Vande Bharat Express in Karnataka, after the first one was introduced on the Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai route in November 2022, maintained by Southern Railway.

"All pending work will be completed by April 30. Vande Bharat train services can begin operations by May-end or the first week of June," said an official.

This is the first Vande Bharat express rake of the South Western Railway. When contacted, SWR officials refused to comment on the development due to the election model code of conduct.

Railways is also mulling the introduction of Vande Bharat trains on routes like Bengaluru-Kacheguda in Hyderabad and Bengaluru- Coimbatore.

Sources said the railway initially had planned to run the Vande Bharat train on the Bengaluru-Hubballi route but decided to extend it till Dharwad reportedly due to pressure from Dharwad MP and Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi.

Faster Mobility: Curves along the railway track on the Hubballi Bengaluru route have been flattened. This will enable trains to operate at greater speed.@AshwiniVaishnaw @SWRRLY @RailMinIndia pic.twitter.com/J6XsirZbgX

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— Pralhad Joshi (@JoshiPralhad) January 12, 2022

Eight-coach VB train may be deployed

The railway is likely to deploy an eight-coach mini-Vande Bharat train on Bengaluru- Hubballi-Dharwad route. The regular VB trains have 16 coaches. The railway is planning to launch VB services on routes that can be covered using chair-car coach trains as its sleeper version is yet to be launched.

KN Krishna Prasad, founder-member of the NGO Karnataka Railway Vedike, welcomed the move.

“At present, 12079/12078 Bengaluru - Hubballi- Bengaluru Janshatabdi Express takes around seven hours. We are expecting travel time to be further reduced for VB since it will have fewer stoppages. This will also be the first Vande Bharat train of South Western Railway and will run only within Karnataka, connecting Bengaluru with areas like Hubballi and Dharwad”.

SWR has also proposed to the railway board to increase the maximum permissible speed of trains from the existing 110 kmph to 130 kmph on the Bengaluru-Hubballi route.

Trains can be operated at an average speed of 110-120kmph once tracks are strengthened to run trains at 130-160kmph. The speed of Vande Bharat trains is capped at 130kmph even though they exceeded 180kmph during trial runs.