Kolkata: The state will soon get its second Vande Bharat Express, which is supposed to run from Howrah to Puri. The trial run in this route was conducted from Howrah Railway Station by the South Eastern Railway (SER) on Friday.
The semi high-speed train is likely to be flagged off next month and will have limited stoppages between the two stations.
So far, no final date has been fixed for the commercial operations of the train.
On Friday, the train left Howrah Station at 6:10 am and reached Puri at 12:35 pm. The train departed from Puri at 1:50 pm and reached Howrah at 8:30 pm.
The trial run was successfully conducted, a senior railway official said while adding that the services of this Vande Bharat Express will soon be available for the people of Bengal. The officials are waiting for the date to be approved by the Railway Board. According to the official, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated all Vande Bharat Express trains either virtually or physically till now. Hence, the same can be expected for this route, however, nothing is certain as of now.
According to Railway sources, it will stop for two minutes at six stations, including Kharagpur. It has been reported that the train sets are being dispatched from the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. The launch of Vande Bharat Express in this route will cater to tourists visiting Puri and Bhubaneswar, amongst other popular spots in Orissa.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had virtually inaugurated the Express train in the Howrah-NJP route on December 30. The travel time between the two stations is seven-and-a-half hours.