Odisha’s first Vande Bharat Express train to hit tracks in May

BHUBANESWAR: Vande Bharat Express, India’s indigenously designed semi high-speed train, is likely to chug through Odisha tracks in early May. The Indian Railways will conduct its trial run shortly, sources said.
An empty rake of Vande Bharat Express passed through Bhubaneswar at around 3pm on Wednesday. It generated huge interest among people because the train was different from the conventional ones. It was looking swanky and stylish compared to the normal trains.
People tried to catch a glimpse of the train passing Bhubaneswar and Cuttack stations. Some people recognised it and captured its photo to share on social media. The people thought it was the trial run of this train in Odisha.
Official sources said it was not a trial run. The Railways was bringing the empty train to Howrah from Vande Bharat’s factory Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai. All maintenance of this train will be conducted at Santragachi station in West Bengal. Later it will start trial run from Howrah to Puri.
After the trial run is completed, the Vande Bharat will run between Howrah and Puri via Bhubaneswar. It will have less stoppages. Howrah-Puri is a busy route. Apart from Bhubaneswar, many people come to Puri for Jagannath darshan and later visit Konark Sun Temple. Apart from these two places, they also visit beaches.
A day will be fixed for its inaugural run in May, said the reliable sources. However, East Coast Railway (ECoR) officials did not comment on its route chart, fares and specific dates of flagging off of the train.
In November last year, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had told the media about the running of Vande Bharat Express in Odisha this year.
Many states have received Vande Bharat trains. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has flagged off Vande Bharat Express at Thiruvananthapuram.