Steephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network - Kasaragod
Kasaragod, Sep 24: The second Vande Bharat Express train sanctioned for Kerala was launched at the Kasaragod railway station on Sunday, September 24.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the train through a video conference. Vande Bharat Express trains were also flagged off in 9 different parts of the country simultaneously at the same instant. The second train sanctioned for Kerala will ply between Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram.
Speaking on this occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that trains would improve the connectivity between the states and promote tourism across the country. "People from West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat are availing themselves of the Vande Bharat Express facility. These new Vande Bharat Express trains reflect the new energy of the country," he said.
"There are many railway stations that have not seen development for many years. Work on developing these stations is in progress," he said. Stations that are being developed in 'Azaadi Ka Amrit Kaal' will be called 'Amrith Bharat stations', the prime minister said.
He said the nine new Vande Bharat Express trains will help improve connectivity in 11 states, he added.
These nine trains will provide high-speed connectivity between Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat, Modi said.
These trains will ply between Udaipur-Jaipur, Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Vijayawada-Chennai (via Renigunta), Patna-Howrah, Kasaragod-Thiruvanthapuram, Rourkela-Bhubaneswar-Puri, Ranchi-Howrah and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad.
These trains are a step towards realisng the prime minister's dream of improving connectivity across the country and providing world-class facilities to rail passengers.
Vande Bharat trains will run at high speed on their operational routes. Also, it will save a lot of time for passengers.
In the ceremony held at Kasaragod railway station Union Minister V Murali Dharan, sports and youth welfare minister Abdul Rahman, MP Raj Mohan Unnithan, MLA N A Nellikunnu, Zilla Panchayat president P Baby Balakrishnan, CMC president V M Muneer, Palakkad DRM Arun Kumar Chaturvedi and others were present.