2nd Vande Bharat from Puri to Rourkela

BHUBANESWAR: Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday announced that the Vande Metro trains will run from Cuttack and Bhubaneswar to Puri. He also declared that the second Vande Bharat Express train will run between Puri and Rourkela and, hinted at the introduction of Vande sleeper trains.
"Production of Vande Metro trains are underway. Some of them will be ready in January or February next year. Vande Metro trains will connect Puri with Cuttack and Bhubaneswar," said Vaishnaw while addressing the gathering at Puri station during flagging off the Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express.
The railways has designed the Vande Metro trains for covering short distances like 50 to 60 km from the city. It will run like shuttles. These trains will cover short distance routes like Cuttack-Bhubaneswar and Lingaraj-Puri.
In February this year, the railway minister had given hints about running of Vande Metro in Odisha. People after landing at Bhubaneswar airport can take a battery-operated vehicle to Lingaraj Temple Road railway station and from there they can go to Puri via Vande Metro. The railways is redeveloping Lingaraj Temple Road along with 56 railway stations in Odisha.
"We will run second Vande Bharat train from Puri to Rourkela via Cuttack. It will have stoppages at major stations including Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Angul, Talcher, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda," said the railway minister.
He hoped that Lord Jagannath will bless them to start the Vande Metro and second Vande Bharat train in Odisha. But the Union minister has not announced the date of running of Puri-Rourkela Vande Bharat Express.
Odisha government has demanded running of Vande Bharat trains in three routes- Puri-Howrah, Puri-Rourkela and Bhubaneswar-Secunderabad.
The minister has also given hints about introduction of Vande sleeper trains in the country. He has not revealed more details about this. Vande sleeper will have sleeper berths and will be ready the year-end.