Indian Railways is all set to start Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat Express on June 3, 2023. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to virtually flag off India’s 19th Vande Bharat train and Konkan Railway’s first semi-high speed train. The Konkan Railway running on the Western Ghats offers some very beautiful views to the rail passengers. Sharing this, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav shared a video on his Twitter profile. The video shows a Vande Bharat Express emerging from one of the Konkan tunnels, making for an extremely beautiful sight.
Ashwini Vaishnav wrote on Twitter, “Next #Vandebharat… via Konkan tunnels. 2 days to go.” The route is full of tunnels, and passes through rivers, valleys and mountains, making it one of the most scenic journeys in India. The total length of the Goa-Mumbai rail route is approximately 550 km and the Goa-Mumbai Vande Bharat train is expected to cover the distance within 7 hours.
next #VandeBharat… through the Konkan tunnels.
days to go pic.twitter.com/vm0Tz0iTkq— Ashwini Vaishnav (@ashwinivaishnav) June 1, 2023
The semi-high speed train will pass through Ratnagiri, Panvel, Thane among other stations on the route. Though the Mumbai-Goa route is well connected by express trains, Vande Bharat will be the fastest train on the Mumbai-Goa route. In fact, it will reduce travel time on the fastest train on the route by at least a few hours.
The trial run of the Made-in-India train has ended and it will connect Madgaon in Goa to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CST) in Mumbai. The new Vande Bharat Express is likely to transform travel between India’s financial capital, Mumbai, and tourism hub, Goa, by reducing travel time by at least a few hours.
As of now, 18 Vande Bharat Express trains are running in India, three of which are from Mumbai – one each for Gandhinagar, Shirdi and Solapur. This will be the fourth train from the financial capital of India. On the other hand, Delhi has got six Vande Bharat Express, the highest in the country, connecting Dehradun, Ajmer, Varanasi, Katra, Bhopal and Amb Andaura.
Two pairs of Vande Bharat trains are running from Chennai to Mysuru and Coimbatore. Vande Bharat is also operational on Bilaspur-Nagpur, Howrah-New Jalpaiguri, Secunderabad-Tirupati, Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam and Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod routes.