Kerala is soon going to get its second Vande Bharat Express train. K Surendran, president of Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit on Wednesday said in a tweet that Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has assured to launch the second Vande Bharat Express train in Kerala soon.
The new semi-high speed train will operate between state capital Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod.
The official announcement of the second Vande Bharat train is expected to be made in the coming days.
“Yet another good news for Kerala. Hon'ble Railway Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw ji has assured to allocate one more Vande Bharat Express to Kerala. The official announcement will be made very soon. The train will run between the Kasargod - Trivandrum route. This will help thousands of daily commuters,” Surendran tweeted.
The state BJP president had written a letter to the Union Railway Minister, requesting the allocation of another Vande Bharat train to Kerala due to the immense popularity of the first one.
In his letter, he highlighted the train's spaciousness, time-saving features, and special amenities such as Bio-vacuum toilets, automatic doors, and GPS-based passenger information system, which have made the train popular among passengers in Kerala.
The letter further said that the train has been running with an average occupancy of over 150 percent, making Kerala the top state in terms of passengers on Vande Bharat trains. Given the massive acceptance and popularity of the train, Surendran proposed the allocation of another Vande Bharat train on the same route in Kerala.
On April 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the inaugural Vande Bharat Express in Kerala, which runs between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod.
The current train is benefitting commuters from Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Kollam, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kasargod, and Kannur.
