Goa's first Vande Bharat Express flagged off

Madgaon: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday virtually flagged off the Madgaon (Goa)-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express train. The train, Goa's first Vande Bharat Express, departed from Madgaon station in South Goa at around 11 am.

The new Vande Bharat Express train launched between the tourist destination Goa and country's financial capital Mumbai, will make the experience of natural views of the Sahyadri mountain range and beauty of the Western Ghats even more memorable, the Central Railway said.

PM Modi visited Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.

He reached Rani Kamalapati railway station in MP capital Bhopal from where he flagged off the five trains - two physically and three in virtual mode - connecting important cities in different parts of the country.

These semi high-speed trains are: Rani Kamalapati (Bhopal)-Jabalpur Vande Bharat Express, Khajuraho-Bhopal-Indore Vande Bharat Express, Madgaon (Goa)-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express, Dharwad-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express, and Hatia-Patna Vande Bharat Express.

Goa Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and other dignitaries attended the function at Madgaon railway station in the coastal state.

The train departed from Madgaon at about 11 am and is expected to reach its final destination, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai, by around 8 pm.

It will help save about an hour as compared to the current fastest train connecting the two places, as per an official statement.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and other dignitaries will welcome the train in Mumbai.

Before the launch of the five trains on Tuesday, 36 services of Vande Bharat trains are already operational on 18 routes.

PM Modi inaugurated the first Vande Bharat Express between New Delhi and Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) on February 15, 2019.

On May 16, 2023, railway authorities conducted trials of the Vande Bharat rake between CSMT and Madgaon. During the trial, the train had covered the distance between CSMT and Madgaon in about seven hours.

With this, the number of Vande Bharat Express trains of the Indian Railways has gone up to 23.

The Goa-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express is the fifth Vande Bharat Express train in Maharashtra and fourth from Mumbai.

From Mumbai, already three Vande Bharat trains are operational—Mumbai to Shirdi, Mumbai to Solapur and Mumbai to Gandhinagar.

The inauguration of the Madgaon-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express was earlier scheduled on June 3, but it was cancelled due to the Balasore train accident in Odisha.

The Vande Bharat Express on Mumbai-Goa route will be operated with eight coaches, like Nagpur (Maharashtra)-Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) Vande Bharat Express that is also currently being run with eight coaches.

The remaining three Vande Bharat Express trains from Maharashtra, operated from Mumbai to Gandhinagar, Shirdi and Solapur, are run with 16 coaches.

The Central Railway (CR) said regular services of Madgaon-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express, having a top speed of 160 km, will start from Thursday.

Currently, the journey from Madgaon to CSMT, covering a distance of 586 km, takes 11-12 hours, but it can be covered by the Vande Bharat train in about eight hours, saving the travel time of passengers, the CR said.