Riding high on the Vande Bharat Express service introduced in Kerala, which is one of the best-performing Vande Bharat trains in the country, the State is likely to receive a second Vande Bharat train.
According to sources, the Southern Railway has been allotted a new redesigned eight-car rake from the Integral Coach Factory ( ICF) Chennai on Wednesday.
The Railways mainly considered three routes for the new rake – Mangaluru-Ernakulam or Mangaluru - Thiruvananthapuram, Mangaluru- Madgaon, and Chennai-Tirunelveli. Among the proposed routes, the train is likely to be pressed into service between Mangaluru and Ernakulam, although officials are tight-lipped about the route. The rake is likely to reach Mangaluru on Thursday.
The recently launched Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram train is the best-performing Vande Bharat Express among trains allotted in the country with an average occupancy of 183% until recently. If the train is given to Kerala, the train will be run on the opposite schedule of the Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram service.
