The Bengaluru–Mumbai Vande Bharat sleeper train is scheduled to begin operations with an inaugural special service on November 1, offering overnight connectivity between the two commercial centres and a proposed travel time of 16 hours, according to South Western Railway officials quoted by Prajavani.
The inaugural special will operate as train numbers 27651 and 27652. The regular timetable will be announced later, officials said. The launch coincides with Karnataka Rajyotsava, after an earlier target of starting the service in October could not be met because of Legislative Council elections in Karnataka.
The proposed service will connect Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai with Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal in Bengaluru. The train is expected to leave CSMT at 8.10pm every day and reach SMVT at 11.55am the following morning. In the opposite direction, it is scheduled to depart SMVT at 7.50pm and arrive at CSMT at 11.55am the next day.
The proposed 16-coach train will stop at Dharmavaram, Anantapur, Guntakal, Raichur, Wadi, Kalaburagi, Solapur, Pune and Kalyan. The final operating schedule and other service details are expected to be issued by the railway authorities before regular operations begin.
The service responds to a long-standing demand for a faster rail connection between Bengaluru and Mumbai. For about four decades, the Udyan Express has been the principal direct rail link between the two cities. Since it is not a superfast service, the journey takes around 24 hours, according to the report. The proposed Vande Bharat sleeper service would reduce the journey by approximately eight hours.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said last year that a Vande Bharat superfast service would operate between the two cities. In April, the minister wrote to Bengaluru Central MP P.C. Mohan stating that approval had been given for a new Vande Bharat sleeper service between KSR Bengaluru and CSMT.
The announcement follows disappointment among passengers after a Bengaluru–Mumbai Express service operating twice a week was introduced in May instead of the promised Vande Bharat service. Passengers criticised that train as a slow service rather than a superfast connection, the report said.
The proposed route is also raising questions about terminal access within Bengaluru. The inaugural service will run from KSR Bengaluru to Mumbai, but the regular service is expected to operate from SMVT, based on the information currently available. Railway activist K.N. Krishnaprasad said this could disadvantage residents of south-central and north Bengaluru and called for the service to continue from KSR or, alternatively, begin from Yeshwanthpur.
The inaugural service on November 1 and the regular timetable to be issued subsequently are the next milestones for the Bengaluru–Mumbai Vande Bharat sleeper connection.
