Maharashtra Secures Major Rail Expansion On Kasara Manmad
Gujarat’s semi-high-speed rail footprint widened on Sunday as the Asarva–Udaipur service began operations, taking the number of Gujarat locations linked by Vande Bharat trains to 21. The addition of Himmatnagar to the network is more than a timetable update it signals a deepening integration of tier-2 and pilgrimage towns into western India’s fast-growing economic corridor. The new service connects Asarva in Ahmedabad with Udaipur City in Rajasthan and will operate six days a week from 18 February, excluding Tuesdays. Railway officials indicated that the eight-coach train set is configured with both Executive Chair Car and standard Chair Car seating, reflecting steady demand from business travellers and leisure passengers.
With this rollout, the Gujarat Vande Bharat network now spans Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Surat, Valsad, Vapi, Palanpur, Mehsana, Sanand, Viramgam, Surendranagar, Wankaner, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Dwarka, Okha, Junagadh, Veraval, Navsari and Himmatnagar. Ahmedabad remains the operational nucleus, served by all six trains touching the state. Urban planners say the expanding Gujarat Vande Bharat network is reshaping regional mobility patterns. Faster point-to-point connectivity between commercial centres such as Surat and Vadodara and administrative hubs like Gandhinagar is shortening same-day business travel cycles. At the same time, coastal and temple towns including Dwarka, Somnath and Veraval are witnessing more predictable tourist inflows, strengthening local hospitality and retail markets.
For North Gujarat, the halt at Himmatnagar is particularly significant. Improved access to Ahmedabad’s industrial and institutional base could encourage distributed real estate growth and reduce migration pressure on the state’s largest city. Transport economists note that rail-led regional development, when aligned with transit-oriented planning, can lower per-capita emissions compared to road-dependent expansion. The six operational services together knit Gujarat more tightly with Mumbai and Rajasthan. Two routes serve the high-traffic Ahmedabad–Mumbai corridor, easing pressure on conventional expresses while cutting travel time between two of India’s most productive urban economies. Other services link Sabarmati with Veraval and Okha, reinforcing connectivity across Saurashtra’s manufacturing clusters and pilgrimage circuits.
From an infrastructure standpoint, the steady scaling up of semi-high-speed services reflects Indian Railways’ attempt to modernise intercity travel without waiting for fully high-speed corridors. Improved rail reliability can shift passenger preference away from short-haul aviation and private vehicles a transition urban mobility experts view as critical for cleaner, lower-carbon growth. However, planners caution that connectivity gains must be matched by station-area upgrades, multimodal integration and last-mile public transport. Without these, the economic benefits of faster trains may remain concentrated in core cities. As Gujarat’s rail grid accelerates, the next phase of urban policy will determine whether this mobility expansion translates into more balanced, climate-aware regional development or simply faster commutes into already congested centres.
