Plans For Bengaluru to Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express Train See Progress

Bengaluru: In good news for travellers demanding a night train between Bengaluru and Coimabtaore, the railway board is planning to operate Vande Bharat Express on the stretch. An announcement to this effect by the board is on the anvil, Vanathi Srinivasan, Coimbatore South MLA of Bharatiya Janata Party, told mediapersons on Sunday. However, it remains to be seen if the new Vande Bharat train will be a night service, which is the demand of the travelling public for a long time.

This will be the second Vande Bharat train for Coimbatore after the one operated on the Coimbatore-Chennai Central route. The semi-high speed train will also be the second express train from Coimbatore to Bengaluru. As of now, UDAY Express caters to the commuters between the two cities.

The CBE SBC (South Bangalore City) UDAY Express (22666) departing at 5.45 a.m. on all weekdays, except Tuesdays, reaches the destination in six hours and 45 minutes with stoppages at Tiruppur, Erode Junction, Salem Junction, Kuppam, Krishnarajapuram and Bengaluru City Junction.

“We have requested re-routing of UDAY Express via Hosur, which has a lot of industries similar to Coimbatore and also increase in the number of second seater (2s) coaches,” J. Sathish, Director, Kongu Global Forum, and former member of Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee, said adding that they are hopeful that the long-pending demand for an overnight train to Bengaluru will become a reality when the Vande Bharat train is launched with sleeper coaches.