Southern Railway To Run Overnight Vande Bharat Express Service Between Chennai And Bengaluru

For the first time, the Southern Railway will operate an overnight service of the semi-high-speed Vande Bharat train between Chennai and Bengaluru on November 21 to accommodate the holiday rush of passengers. Another Vande Bharat special will operate between Yesvantpur/SMVT Bengaluru and Chennai Central on November 20.

The eight-coach Vande Bharat Express from Chennai Central station will depart at 11 p.m. on Tuesday (November 21) and arrive at SMVT Bengaluru at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday, covering the distance between the two cities in 5.30 hours. On November 20, the Vande Bharat special will depart SMVT Bengaluru at 5:15 p.m. and arrive at Chennai Central at 10 p.m. the same day. Currently, all 34 of the Vande Bharat trains in operation in India run during the day.

The Southern Railway (SR) is operating the overnight service to gauge passenger response. The SR had successfully operated four special Vande Bharat train services between Chennai, Egmore, and Tirunelveli last week to manage the Deepavali rush.

"A special service of Vande Bharat trains has not been introduced by any other railway zone in the country. Our Chennai-Tirunelveli special trains received tremendous patronage, and we are keen to assess passengers' reception to an overnight service," shared a senior Southern Railway official with DH. Typically, Railways offer sleeper and AC coaches during nighttime journeys to accommodate holiday rush. "We'll monitor the passenger response on Tuesday's special train. Based on this, we'll decide whether to introduce more Vande Bharat overnight services during the upcoming holiday season," the official added.

The SR already operates two Vande Bharat trains, two Shatabdi Express trains, one double-decker train, and two express trains between Chennai and Bengaluru during the day. The Vande Bharat Express and Shatabdi trains between Chennai and Mysuru are preferred by business travelers who travel to Bengaluru.