Indian Railways Update: Vande Bharat Express trains have won the hearts of passengers across the nation. Now, another Vande Bharat train will be operated between Puri, Odisha and Howrah, West Bengal from May 18. While this will be the second semi-high-speed train running through West Bengal, it will be the first one for Odisha. The inauguration will happen in Puri by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a virtual event.
Indian Railways have also released a timetable for the train. The new Vande Bharat Express, numbered 22895, will depart from Howrah at 6.10 am and reach Puri at 12.35 pm. On the opposite route, the train will be numbered 22896 and depart from Puri at 1.50 pm, reaching Howrah at 8.30 pm. It will operate six days a week and will not be in transit on Thursdays.
The train will stop at a total of 7 stations in between and will cover 500 kilometres in 6.5 hours. The 7 halt stations between Howrah and Puri will be Kharagpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur Keonjhar Road, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Khurda Road.
The new Vande Bharat will be the 16th in the country. With the introduction of the new ones too and from pilgrimage destinations, the Ministry of Railways wants to connect all these places well through the semi-high speed train as soon as possible. People from West Bengal will now be able to reach Puri to worship Lord Jagannath easily with the help of the new Vande Bharat Express train.
The newest train’s fare hasn’t officially been announced yet. However, looking at the fares of other trains with similarly long journeys, passengers can expect the cost to be somewhere between Rs 1,590 and Rs 2,815. Hence, the normal chair car would cost Rs 1590, the executive class Rs 2,815 per seat. The catering charges for each would be Rs 308 and Rs 369 respectively.
Currently, semi-high-speed trains are being demanded for Bihar-Jharkhand and Punjab as well. This way, these trains are going to replace Shatabdi and Rajdhani Expresses to become the fastest trains in the country.
