Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually flagged off nine Vande Bharat express train yesterday including two routes of Patna-Howrah and Ranchi- Howrah connectingWest Bengal with the neighbouring states of Bihar and Jharkhand with premium trains equipped with cutting-edge passenger amenities.

The nine inaugurated routes of Vande Bharat trains include Udaipur-Jaipur, Tirunelveli Madurai-Chennai, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Vijayawada-Chennai (via Renigunta), Patna-Howrah, Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram, Rourkela- Bhubaneswar-Puri, Ranchi- Howrah and Jamnagar- Ahmedabad. The nine train routes are expected to enhance connectivity across eleven states namely West Bengal, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat.

According to the railways, the nine new trains would also help in boosting connectivity between important religious places like Puri, Madurai and Tirupati. The trains are to be the fastest along the routes of their operation with significantly reduced travelling time. As compared to the current fastest train along the route, Rourkela- Bhubaneswar-Puri Vande
Bharat Express and Kasaragod- Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express are to be faster by about three hours, etc.

Speaking during the inaugural ceremony yesterday, the Prime Minister said, “The craze for Vande Bharat is increasing. Till now, more than 1.11 crore people have travelled in Vande Bharat trains.”
As underscored by the PM, 25Vande Bharat trains are being operated presently while nine more were flagged off today. Highlighting that several stations in the country are from the pre-independence era, Mr Modi informed, “Now, the tradition of celebrating the birthday of railway stations will be expanded further and more and more people will be involved in it.”
Talking about the Nari shakti Vandana Act as a decisive moment for pushing women-led development, Mr Modi pointed out that many railway stations are being run by women functionaries.

The commercial services of Patna-Howrah and Ranchi- Howrah are to start on 26 and 27 September respectively. According to the Eastern Railway, the trains would help in fulfilling the demand of the people of IISCO and Durgapur Steel Plant, coal mine, and traders.

For embarking a journey between Howrah to Patna in a chair car, passengers would have to pay Rs 1,450 while for the executive class the amount would be Rs 2,675. For the journey between Patna and Howrah, the fares are Rs 1,505 for chair car and Rs 2,725 for executive class. “Passengers will find the fares competitive and in line with the value and comfort that the Vande Bharat Express offers,” said the chief public relations officer of the Eastern Railway, Kausik Mitra.

The Ranchi-HowrahVande Bharat is starting its commercial services on Wednes- day. After Howrah-Puri, inaugurated earlier in May, this is the second route of Vande Bharat from Howrah for the South Eastern Railway. According to the zonal railway, the Ranchi-Howrah-RanchiVande Bharat Express is going to be the fastest train connectivity between the two capital cities of Jharkhand and Bengal.

As elucidated by the CPRO of the South Eastern Railway, Aditya Kumar Chaudhary, the fare for a journey in executive class from Ranchi to Howrah is Rs 2,045 without food and Rs 2,200 with food. “The fare for a journey between Ranchi and Howrah in a chair car without food is Rs 1,030 while that with food is Rs 1,155. The train would be operated on six days of the week, except Tuesday.”