Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi
Udupi, Nov 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the Bengaluru-Mangaluru-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express in Bengaluru at 2 pm on Friday November 13.
Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Kota Srinivas Poojary, while addressing reporters, said that a symbolic inauguration of the Vande Bharat train travelling from the coastal region towards Bengaluru would also be held simultaneously at Mangaluru Junction. Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, along with the MPs representing Mangaluru, Udupi and Uttara Kannada, will inaugurate the Madgaon-Mangaluru-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express at Mangaluru.
MP Srinivas Poojary said that regular services in both directions would commence from November 15, following the inauguration on November 13.
He congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and V Somanna on the launch of the service. He also thanked Mangaluru MP Brijesh Chowta and Uttara Kannada MP Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri for their support in connecting the coastal region through the Vande Bharat service.
Recalling the history behind the initiative, Poojary said that in 2019, the then Railway minister Piyush Goyal had envisioned introducing a Vande Bharat train to Bengaluru. However, electrification work on the Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Ghat section was pending at the time.
Subsequently, as part of Indian Railways' complete electrification programme, electrification of the entire Karwar-Mangaluru-Bengaluru route was completed, bringing the Vande Bharat dream closer to reality.
During his visit to Bengaluru last year, Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had announced the decision to operate a Vande Bharat train from Bengaluru through Mangaluru to Madgaon. Since a Vande Bharat service was already operating between Mangaluru and Madgaon, several trial runs of the train were conducted between Bengaluru and Mangaluru.
With these hurdles resolved, the introduction of the Vande Bharat service on November 13, dedicated to the coastal region of Karnataka, will connect the coast with Bengaluru, Poojary said.
In a statement, he said that the fulfilment of the coastal passengers' long-standing demand through the Vande Bharat service had given him satisfaction that he had discharged his responsibility.
Poojary further said that the long-standing demand to connect Karnataka's coastal region with the state capital Bengaluru through India's modern Vande Bharat train had finally been fulfilled.
He pointed out that the coastal region is known as the land of temples, an educational hub and a centre for the hotel and tourism industries. It is also home to nationally significant establishments such as the Seabird Naval Base and the Kaiga Nuclear Power Plant. Connecting this strategically and nationally important coastal region with Bengaluru through a modern train service had been a long-standing demand, he added.