Railways extends Mangaluru-Goa Vande Bharat Express to Yesvantpur
The extension to Yesvantpur is expected to benefit passengers travelling to Bengaluru via Mangaluru Junction.
The Ministry of Railways has issued a circular announcing the timetable and commercial halts for the Mangaluru-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express, which is being extended to Yesvantpur in Bengaluru. According to The Hindu, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that he will flag off the service in Mangaluru before the third week of November.
The Madgaon-Yesvantpur Vande Bharat Express (26656) will depart from Goa at 8.20 am and arrive at Yesvantpur at 6.43 pm. The service will halt at stations including Murdeshwar, Byndoor, Kundapura, Udupi, and Mangaluru Junction. The return service (26655) will depart Yesvantpur at 7.35 am and reach Madgaon at 8.55 pm.
The train will operate six days a week, except Wednesdays, Mathrubhumi reported. The extension to Yesvantpur ends hopes of the service being extended to Kozhikode, despite demands from MPs including M.K. Raghavan, K.
Sudhakaran, and Suresh Gopi.
The Mangaluru-Madgaon service is among the Vande Bharat Express trains operating at a loss, with an average seat occupancy of 30 to 40 per cent on days other than Sundays, Mathrubhumi reported.
The Centre for Railway Information Systems has stopped advance reservation for the Mangaluru-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express with effect from November 28.