Northeast to get first Vande Bharat Express on Guwahati-New Jalpaiguri route

Operating six days a week, it is set to be the third Vande Bharat in West Bengal.

The Northeastern region of India is gearing up to get its first Vande Bharat Express train on Thursday expected to run from New Jalpaiguri to Guwahati. Sanjay Chilwarwar, additional divisional railway manager (ADRM), Katihar, Northeast Frontier announced on Saturday that the 17th Vande Bharat will connect Assam with West Bengal. It will tentatively be virtually flagged off on Thursday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to the ADRM.

The Vande Bharat express at Guwahati Railway Station after arriving from New Jalpaiguri, Siliguri, on the test drive, in Guwahati, Sunday, May 21, 2023.(PTI)

Operating six days a week, it is set to be the third Vande Bharat in West Bengal after the NJP- Howrah and Howrah-Puri trains. The semi-high speed train (Up-22227-Down-22228) will cover around 410 km within 6 hours.

The eight-coach train conducted its first trial run on Sunday.

Read: Mumbai ‘locals’ soon to be a past: Vande Metro to replace the suburban trains

Earlier railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the PM has set a goal for the Vande Bharat to run in almost all the states by June. “Vande Metro is being designed for a distance of less than 100 km and for daily travel," he added.

The 16 existing Vande Bharat routes

New Delhi - Varanasi

New Delhi - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (J&K)

Gandhinagar- Mumbai

New Delhi - Amb Andaura

Chennai-Mysuru

Nagpur-Bilaspur

Howrah - New Jalpaiguri

Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam

Mumbai- Solapur

Mumbai- Shirdi

Hazrat Nizamuddin- Rani Kamlapati station

Secunderabad- Tirupati

Chennai-Coimbatore

Ajmer-Delhi Cantt

Thiruvananthapuram-Kasargod

Puri- Howrah

Built at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai, Vande Bharat Express is a self-propelled train set with state-of-the-art facilities that offer a hassle-free travel experience.

Last week, Odisha got its first Vande Bharat train running between Puri to Howrah, launched by PM Modi via video conferencing. The newly-launched train was hit by lightning and hailstorm that cracked the windscreen of the driver's cabin on Sunday afternoon near Bhadrak railway station.

(With inputs from ANI)