Hyderabad: This Sankranti, Trains 20833/20834 Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express, leaving the port city in the morning, will be augmented with four additional coaches. It will now have 20 coaches and carry 1,440 passengers.
Train 20833 leaves Visakhapatnam at 5.45 am and reaches Secunderabad at 2.20 pm. In the return direction, Train 20834 leaves the Telangana capital at 3 pm and reaches the port city at 11.35 pm.
The festival marks two years of the inauguration of the service by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The train has maintained a record 130 per cent occupancy.
Responding to the increasing demand, railway authorities announced the augmentation with effect from Saturday. The 16-coach train used to accommodate 1,128 passengers.
The new configuration will feature 18 chair cars with 1,336 passengers and two executive class coaches accommodating 104 passengers.
Arun Kumar Jain, general manager of South Central Railway, stated, “With the addition of four more coaches, the Vande Bharat Express will be able to serve a larger number of passengers. This expansion is particularly timely during the peak Sankranti season, as more people will be travelling to their native places to celebrate the festival.”
There is a second set of Vande Bharat Express trains (20707/20708) between the two cities. It leaves Secunderabad at 5.05 am and reaches Vizag at 1.50 pm. On its way back, it leaves the port city at 2.30 pm and reaches Secunderabad at 11.25 pm.
