Bengal To Get Its Second Vande Bharat Express, PM Modi To Inaugurate Puri-Howrah Train Tomorrow

The Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express will be the second one that West Bengal is getting after the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express.

Vande Bharat Express train between Howrah and Puri during its trial run, in Bhubaneswar, on April 28

Source : PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, tomorrow, will virtually inaugurate Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express, said an official of the South Eastern Railway. Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will attend the event at Puri station, from where the train will start its inaugural run, he added, reported news agency PTI. At around 1 pm, the Howrah-Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express will be flagged off from Puri by the Prime Minister through the virtual mode, the SER official said.

The Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express will be the second one that West Bengal is getting after the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express.

The semi-high speed train is likely to be an instant hit among travellers, as Puri being the abode of Lord Jagannath sees influx of tourists from Bengal and particularly Kolkata and its surroundings as both a pilgrimage and a beach resort town, as per travel agents, reported PTI. 

PM Modi will also also lay the foundation stone of the redevelopment of Puri and Cuttack railway stations in Odisha.   

Howrah-Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express: Route, Time Table

22895/22896 Howrah-Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express will cover a distance of five hundred kilometres in around six and a half hours and the regular run will start from May 20 for six days a week except Thursdays, the official told the news agency. 

The train will depart Howrah at 6.10 am and reach Puri at 12.35 pm and in the return direction, it will depart Puri at 1.50 pm and arrive at Howrah at 8.30 pm.

The train, with 16 coaches, will stop at Kharagpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur Keonjhar Road, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Khurda Road, the official said