Railway Board approves new Yesvantpur-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express service
The new six-day-a-week train will travel through the Western Ghats via Mangaluru Junction.
The Railway Board approved the introduction of the Yesvantpur-Madgaon-Yesvantpur Vande Bharat Express on October 30. The service will operate six days a week, passing through the Western Ghats via the Sakleshpur–Subrahmanya Road section.
Train number 26655 will depart Yesvantpur at 7:35 am and arrive in Madgaon at 8:55 pm. This service will not run on Wednesdays. The return journey, train number 26656, will leave Madgaon at 8:20 am and reach Yesvantpur at 9:15 pm, excluding Thursdays.
The route includes stops at Shravanabelagola, Hassan, Sakleshpur, Subrahmanya Road, Kabaka Puttur, Mangaluru Junction, Udupi, Kundapura, Mookambika Road Byndoor, Murdeshwar, Gokarna Road, and Karwar. The service will also halt at Thokur in the Yesvantpur-Madgaon direction.
The journey from Yesvantpur to Madgaon is expected to take approximately 13 hours and 20 minutes, while the return trip is scheduled for around 12 hours and 55 minutes. Two Vande Bharat rakes will be used for the service.
The Railway Board has also permitted the discontinuation of the existing Madgaon-Mangaluru Central Vande Bharat Express, numbers 20645 and 20646, citing low passenger patronage. The official launch date and fare structure for the new service have not yet been announced.