5 more Vande Bharat trains to be launched by June-end, Puri-Howrah route to open next week

India will be launching at least five new Vande Bharat semi-high-speed trains by the end of June 2023. One of the five new Vande Bharat trains, the train on the Puri-Howrah route will be launched next week, likely on May 15.

The launch of the Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat train will be followed by the New Jalpaiguri-Guwahati Vande Bharat train. After the New Jalpaiguri-Guwahati train, another Vande Bharat on the Patna-Ranchi route is expected to run. The Vande Bharat train in Guwahati will be the first in the northeast.

This would be the second Vande Bharat express train that West Bengal will get, with the first running on the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri route since December 30, 2022.

The Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express will reportedly leave Howrah in West Bengal at 5:50 am and arrive in Puri, Odisha at 11:50 am. From Puri, the Vande Bharat is scheduled to leave at 2 pm and arrive in Howrah at 7:30 pm, according to the reports.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government has demanded the introduction of more semi-high-speed trains on the Bhubaneswar-Hyderabad, Puri-Raipur, and Puri-Howrah routes after the successful trial run of the Vande Bharat express train on the Howrah-Puri route.

During the trial run, it had stoppages at Kharagpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, and Khurda with a two-minute halt at each station.

With pilgrims and tourists flocking to Puri, the abode of Lord Jagannath, throughout the year from the West Bengal capital, the new semi-high speed train is likely to be an instant hit among the visitors, travel operators said.