Prime Minister Modi launches Chennai-Mysuru Vande Bharat, the first in the South

The brand-new Vande Bharat train will connect Mysuru with Chennai and shorten the distance between the two cities.

The fifth Vande Bharat train in India and the first in the South left Bengaluru on Friday under the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Running between Mysuru and Chennai, the train will shorten the distance between the two cities. The PMO stated that it will improve connection between Chennai’s industrial base, Bengaluru’s IT and startup cluster, and Mysuru, a well-known tourism destination. The train was officially launched at KSR Bengaluru station and will eventually arrive in Chennai.
In accordance with the Railways’ “Bharat Gaurav” train policy, Modi also launched the Bharat Gaurav Kashi Darshan train.

The top features of the new Vande Bharat train are as follows:
1) From Chennai to Mysore, passengers will pay 1,200 for a car chair and 2,295 for executive class; from Mysore to Chennai, passengers would pay 1,365 and 2,486 correspondingly.

2) According to authorities, the train would make two stops between Chennai and Mysore—Katpadi and Bengaluru—and travel 500 kilometres in 6 hours 30 minutes. Starting on Saturday, regular business will resume.
3) A railway official was reported by news agency PTI as saying, “If operated at maximum capacity, the train can reach Chennai from Bengaluru in under three hours.”
4) Integral Coach Factory (ICF), a company in Chennai, designed the train and equipped it with a clever brake system for enhanced acceleration and deceleration.
5) Automatic doors, a GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system, onboard hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment, and plush seats are features found on every coach.
6) On February 15, 2019, the inaugural Vande Bharat Express train on the New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi line was flagged off.