Mumbai-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Sleeper service expected to be launched this month

India's second Vande Bharat Sleeper train, after the Howrah-Guwahati service launched early this year, is expected to begin this month. As per reports, it will be the much-awaited Mumbai-Bengaluru service and should run six days a week. The service from Bengaluru will run on all days except Mondays, and the Mumbai-Bengaluru service will not operate on Tuesdays. As per the initial reports, the Bengaluru-Mumbai train will depart at 10 pm and will reach Mumbai at 1.50 pm the next day. The train will depart from Mumbai at 10.30 pm and reach Bengaluru at 2.50 pm the next day. 

Two Vande Bharat sleeper trainsets are expected to be used for the service. Anantapur, Raichur, Guntakal, Kalaburagi, Solapur, Pune and Kalyan will be the other stops. It will not pass through Hubballi; Pune and Solapur will be the stations for watering and other terminal-related arrangements. As compared to the Udyan Express, the only Mumbai-Bengaluru direct train at the moment, which takes around 24 hours, the new Vande Bharat Sleeper service is expected to reach in 16 hours. 

The train will have modern facilities like automatic sliding doors, CCTV surveillance and bio-vacuum toilets, along with onboard catering. The train will also have digital information displays, mobile charging points, sensor-based water taps and indigenous Kavach automatic train protection facilities. The Vande Bharat Sleeper trains are meant for long-distance overnight travel, between 800 km and 1,200 km, as compared to the Vande Bharat services designed for daytime intercity travel of shorter distances.