Bhopal, June 27: In a significant development, PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday flagged off five Vande Bharat Express trains from the Rani Kamalapati Railway Station in Madhya Pradesh's capital city Bhopal.

Ahead of the flagging-off ceremony, the Prime Minister interacted with crew members of the train and some children onboard the Vande Bharat train at Rani Kamlapati railway station.

 

 

 

 

This semi-high speed train will connect Madhya Pradesh Mahakaushal region (Jabalpur) to the Central region (Bhopal). Madhya Pradesh's second semi-high speed will operate between the two cities at the speed of 130 kmph. The train is expected to be faster by about thirty minutess as compared to the existing fastest train on the route.

 

 

Madhya Pradesh's third semi-high speed train will operate between the state's Malwa region (Indore), Bundelkhand region (Khajuraho) and Central Region (Bhopal). The train is expected to benefit the tourist sites like Mahakaleshwar, Mandu, Maheshwar, Khajuraho, Panna. The train is expected be about about two hours and thirty minutes faster than the fastest existing train on the route.

 

 

Being's Goa's first semi-high speed train, it will operate between Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Goa’s Madgaon station. The train will operate six days a week excpet Friday. The train is expected to save the journey time by about an hour as compared to the existing trains on the route. The railway ministry had cancelled the launch of the Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat train after the Odisha tragedy.

 

 

Karnataka is set to get another semi-high speed blue-whote train which will connect key cities like Dharwad, Hubballi and Davangere - with state capital Bengaluru. The train is expected to be faster by about thirty minutes as compared to the existing fastest train in the route. This will be second Vande Bharat train for Karnataka as the first one runs between Chennai, Bengaluru and Mysuru.

 

 

This semi-high speed train would be the first Vande Bharat for Jharkhand and Bihar. A senior officer of the South Eastern Railway at Ranchi had earlier said that though the route chart is not confirmed, but as per the discussion, the train is likely to run via Tatisilwai, Mersa, Shanki, Barkakana, Hazaribag, Koderma and Gaya. It is expected save about one hour and twenty five minutes journey time, when compared with the current fastest train on the route.

 

With this, the total number of these semi-high speed blue-white trains in India reached 23.