Ahead of its launch on Friday (November 11), the Chennai-Mysuru Vande Bharat Express train's trial run began on Monday from MG Ramachandran Central Railway station in Chennai. Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate south India's first Vande Bharat Express train on November 11.
Ahead of the trial run, the Vande Bharat Express reached Chennai on Sunday. Sharing the video of the train reaching Chennai and all set for the trial run, Additional Divisional Railway Manager Ananth Rupanagudi tweeted, "So finally the good news is here - the Vande Bharat Train rolls into the jurisdiction of Chennai division for tomorrow's trial run up to Mysuru!"
Also read | Vande Bharat Express To Make South Debut On Nov 10, Train To Run Between Chennai-Bengaluru And Mysuru
The train will shuffle between Tamil Nadu's Chennai and Karnataka's Mysuru covering a distance of 504 kilometers in the span of six and a half hours. In its regular schedule, the train has a halting at KRS Bengaluru. Except for Wednesday, the service will be available six days a week. It's expected that the Chennai-Mysuru service will cost up to Rs 920 for economy class and Rs 1,880 for the executive class, a report on News18 said.
This will be the fifth Vande Bharat Express train in the country to be flagged off and a first for south India. Earlier the third and fourth Vande Bharat trains were flagged off from poll-bound Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Vande Bharat services are expected to provide faster and more comfortable travelling.
Vande Bharat Express services are a Make-in-India initiative and the coaches are made in Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai. The trains will have Train Collision Avoidance System called KAVACH. The coaches of Vande Bharat will have disaster lights and a battery backup that runs upto three hours. The first Vande Bharat Express was launched on February 15, 2019, from New Delhi to Varanasi.