Palakkad: The second Vande Bharat train allotted to Palakkad-Southern Railway departed from Chennai to Mangaluru on Friday. It was handed over to the engineers from Palakkad division from Chennai Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at 8.42 pm on Friday.
This confirms that the train was allotted to Kerala. The train will reach Mangaluru on Saturday. A new train with a change in design is being delivered to Mangaluru.
According to sources, the route for the new train will be decided in the first week of September. The routes under consideration are Mangalore – Thiruvananthapuram, Mangalore – Ernakulam, Mangalore – Coimbatore, Madgaon (Goa) – Ernakulam. The final decision will be taken by the route decision committee of the Southern Railway. Tirunelveli – Chennai Egmore route in Madurai division is also under consideration.
The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai handed over a train each to the Southern Railway, Western Railway and East Coast Railway.
The Vande Bharat train, which was earlier sanctioned for Kerala, is ahead of other routes in the country in terms of passenger numbers. Vande Bharat operates the Kasaragod - Thiruvananthapuram route at the rate of 183 passengers per 100 seats. In the return service from Thiruvananthapuram, the rate is 173 passengers per 100 seats.
