Indian Railways to launch nine new Vande Bharat Express trains on September 24

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to virtually inaugurate nine new Vande Bharat Express trains on September 24, marking a record launch of these trains in a single day. The destinations for these new trains include states such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, both of which are going to have elections.

This launch comes approximately two months after the inauguration of the Gorakhpur-Lucknow Vande Bharat Express and Jodhpur-Sabarmati Vande Bharat Express on July 7, 2023.

The Prime Minister will conduct the launch event from New Delhi in a virtual mode.

The first Vande Bharat Express with an orange color scheme will be deployed on the Kasaragod-Trivandrum route in South India. This is part of a new color scheme for the trains, with eight others maintaining the blue-white color combination. There are plans to introduce 10 more Vande Bharat trains with the orange and white color scheme.

While four routes have already been announced, five more routes are expected to be selected for the operation of these semi-high-speed trains on September 24, which is a day after the conclusion of a special session of Parliament.

The new Vande Bharat Express trains will serve routes such as Indore-Jaipur, Jaipur-Udaipur, Puri-Rourkela, Patna-Howrah, and Jaipur-Chandigarh.

Previously announced routes include Chennai-Tirunelveli, Ranchi-Howrah, Jamnagar-Ahmedabad, and Chennai-Hyderabad.

The Puri-Rourkela Vande Bharat Express will be the second such service in Odisha, following the launch of the Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express.

Rajasthan, which already has a Vande Bharat Express for Jaipur, will receive two additional Vande Bharat trains this month.

Madhya Pradesh, which currently has a Vande Bharat service for Bhopal, Jabalpur, and Ujjain, will see the addition of another for Indore.

Presently, there are 50 (pairs) operational Vande Bharat trains across the country, and with the launch of these nine additional trains on September 24, the total number of such trains will increase to 68 pairs.