The new Bengaluru-Mangaluru-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express will begin commercial operations on November 15, two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flags off the service, South Western Railway (SWR) said. The train will connect Yeshwantpur with Madgaon through Mangaluru Junction and several coastal and interior Karnataka stations.
Train number 26655 will depart from Yeshwantpur at 7.35 am and reach Mangaluru Junction at 5.05 pm before arriving at Madgaon at 8.55 pm. The service will not operate on Wednesdays. In the return direction, train number 26656 will leave Madgaon at 8.20 am, reach Mangaluru Junction at 3.50 pm and arrive at Yeshwantpur at 9.15 pm. It will not operate on Thursdays.
The announced route will include stops at Shravanabelagola, Hassan, Sakleshpur, Subrahmanya Road, Kabaka Puttur, Mangaluru Junction, Udupi, Kundapura, Byndoor, Murdeshwar, Gokarna Road and Karwar. The list places the service on a corridor that links Bengaluru with major towns and tourism centres across the state’s western and coastal belt before continuing to Goa.
SWR said the Yeshwantpur-Mangaluru Junction journey will take seven hours and 30 minutes, approximately 90 minutes less than the current fastest train on that section. However, the Mangaluru-Madgaon segment will take an hour longer than the existing Vande Bharat service. The complete Bengaluru-Madgaon journey will take about 13 hours, making it a long trip for a seater train.
The railway will deploy two 16-coach rakes for the new service. At the same time, it will discontinue the existing Madgaon-Mangaluru Central-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express, numbered 20645 and 20646, in both directions from November 15. The change will therefore replace the current service on the Mangaluru-Goa section rather than add a separate Vande Bharat train to that stretch.
The inaugural programme is scheduled for November 13. The inaugural special train numbered 06512 will leave Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal Bengaluru at 1.30 pm and reach Madgaon at 2.55 am. Another inaugural special, numbered 06213, will depart from Mangaluru Junction at 1.30 pm and arrive at Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal Bengaluru at 9 pm.
The commercial timetable will determine how passengers use the service across the full corridor, particularly those travelling between Bengaluru, Mangaluru and Goa. The first regular service is scheduled to begin on November 15, with the specified Wednesday and Thursday weekly breaks applying in the two directions.
