Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat to ply on all days, including Wed

Kolkata: Due to the festive season rush, the Eastern Railway (ER) will run Vande Bharat Express on all days, including Wednesday from November 15 to 29.

The regular 22301/22302 Howrah-New Jalpaiguri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express operates everyday except Wednesday.

By introducing the Wednesday special service, Eastern Railway will generate an additional 6768 seats, providing much-needed relief to the surge in passenger numbers during this festive period. The Wednesday service of Vande Bharat will leave Howrah at 5:55 am and reach New Jalpaiguri at 1:25 pm.

The train will leave NJP at 3 pm and reach Howrah at 10:35 pm. Like the regular Vande Bharat service, the train will stop at Bolpur, Malda Town and Barsoi Stations enroute in both directions.

The special service will be available on November 15, November 22 and November 29. According to the data shared by ER, Executive Class has 70 seats and Ac Chair Car has 907 seats for November 15. Meanwhile, on November 22 and November 29, 71 seats are available in EC and 922 and 912 seats are available, respectively.

Ahead of Durga Puja, Eastern Railway had also arranged for standby additional Vande Bharat rakes which can be used in case of any technical glitches appearing in the existing rakes. This decision was taken following the recent incidents wherein the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat rake had to be replaced with Yuva Express rake due to technical reasons. According to an official, Eastern Railway had appealed to the Railway Board for standby Vande Bharat rake which was accepted and accomplished.

It will be utilised for Howrah-NJP, Howrah-Puri or Howrah-Patna in case of emergency.