Yesvantpur-Mangaluru Vande Bharat Begins Trial Run
A 16-car Vande Bharat Express has begun a trial run between Yesvantpur and Mangaluru Central in Karnataka, South Western Railway said on September 5, as railway officials assess operating timings and safety factors on the route.
Bengaluru Divisional Railway Manager Gopalakrishna D shared a video of the train’s movement on X, formerly Twitter. The post said the trial run had commenced from Yesvantpur to assess the timings of the service. The train is white and blue and is configured with 16 coaches.
The trial is being conducted on the approximately 360-kilometre Yesvantpur-Mangaluru Central rail route. Senior officials and staff from operations, train control and electrical departments, including TRO and traction distribution teams, as well as engineering and mechanical departments, are monitoring the run, according to the information shared with the announcement.
The trial will allow railway teams to examine the train’s running time and service-related operating factors before any regular service is introduced. The supplied announcement does not specify a commercial launch date, scheduled travel time, fare structure or the number of intermediate stops.
If introduced for regular operations, the service would add another Vande Bharat connection linking the Bengaluru region with the coastal city of Mangaluru. The route connects Yesvantpur, a major railway terminal in Bengaluru, with Mangaluru Central, an important rail gateway for Karnataka’s coastal region. The announcement described the proposed service as the state’s 13th Vande Bharat connection, while the source report said Karnataka currently has 12 pairs of Vande Bharat services operating.
The trial comes as Indian Railways continues to expand the Vande Bharat network. The source report said 162 Vande Bharat services are currently operating across the country, citing the broader expansion of the semi-high-speed train programme. It also reported that Vande Bharat services are being extended beyond daytime chair-car operations, with sleeper trains being developed for longer overnight journeys.
According to the same report, railway plans include the manufacture of 260 Vande Bharat sleeper trainsets. The reported production allocation includes Bharat Earth Movers Limited, Integral Coach Factory, Kinet Railway Solutions and the Titagarh-BHEL consortium. Those plans concern the wider national network and are separate from the Yesvantpur-Mangaluru trial run.
The next formal milestone for the Karnataka route will be the railway administration’s decision on operating timings and the conditions required before a regular service can begin. No inauguration date or passenger booking schedule was included in the announcement.
