Chennai: Two of the three Vande Bharat Express trains flagged off virtually by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday will be beneficial to the certain sections of travelling public of the State for they are operated on the routes with high demands – Chennai Egmore and Nagercoil and Madurai and Bengaluru.
The train connecting Chennai to Nagercoil leaves at 5 am and reaches its destination at 1.50 pm, which means it takes less than nine hours to cover the distance that the presently popular Kanyakumari Express takes about 13 hours. In return the train leaves Nagercoil at 2.20 pm and reaches Egmore at 11.15 pm.
Apart from that, the departure time of the train from both Chennai and Nagercoil is totally different from the present set of trains connecting the two cities that are operated at night, leaving in the evening or early night hours to reach the destination in the morning. So it will help those who are averse to the idea of spending a night on the train and also want to travel fast.
The ticket rates of Rs 1760 for chair car and Rs 3240 for executive class, even if they sound high for train travel standards, are nominal when compared to flight charges that can at time touch several more thousands to either Thoothukudi or Thiruvananthapuram, the nearest airports
So there is a chance of people travelling between Chennai and Nagercoil by flight to avoid night journeys otherwise preferring the Vande Bharat. Since a flight journey might take, even if the flying time is just an hour, about five hours, taking into account the advance check in, security check, wait for the baggage at the carousel and so on, the train takes less than nine hours.
All trains running between Nagercoil and Chennai are fully booked almost all through the year and passengers not getting tickets on those night trains will opt for the Vande Bharat.
Similarly the other Vande Bharat connecting Madurai and Bengaluru meets a long felt need to connect the two cities. Since several people working in the IT industry in Bengaluru hail from Madurai and the neighbouring districts, the new train will be a godsend for them as the travel time is just over seven hours.
Techies leaving work early to catch the train at 1.30 pm could reach their homes before 10 pm in Madurai.
So despite the high rates, the trains might help some sections of people whose needs were not met by the existing train services.
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