A Vande Bharat Express rake that is likely to operate as a special train in the Ernakulam-Bengaluru corridor arrived here on April 7 (Sunday). Later in the day, it was shifted to Kollam for being berthed owing to space constraints at Ernakulam, it is learnt. There is no formal announcement on the train commencing service in the corridor or its time schedule, official sources said.
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The stretch is likely to be covered in approximately nine hours. The Railways had in April 2023 stated that a Vande Bharat service would begin operating on the route in either December or in early 2024, considering whopping demand in the stretch.
The arrival of a Vande Bharat rake comes close on the heels of the Railways announcing Vande Bharat tri-weekly special trains in the Chennai Egmore-Nagercoil corridor from April 5 to April 28. Although maintenance infrastructure was augmented in Ernakulam, a Vande Bharat Express rake that was brought to Kochuveli a month ago was taken away to be operated on the Mysuru-Chennai route.
This had given rise to the demand to extend the Bengaluru-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express train to Ernakulam, considering over 150% occupancy in the pair of Vande Bharat trains that operated in Kerala. This overwhelming demand has been attributed to relatively-low average speed of express trains when they pass through the State due to innumerable stops, curves, inadequate platform capacity, and the 69-km single track portion in the Ernakulam-Ambalapuzha corridor.