Super Fast Trains Slows Down For Vande Bharat
Chennai: Some of the superfast trains of Indian Railways will slow down from October 1st. With the new table coming into effect, trains including Pandiyan, Podhigai, Kanniyakumari, Pearl city and Nellai Express will experience 10-15 min delays. But at the same time Vande Bharat will complete its journey in just five hours and 15 minutes.
The premium trains like Shatabdi Express, Kovai and Brindavan Express when introduced showed an increase in travel time. Now, as per the National Train Enquiry System (NTES) portal, with the introduction of Tirunelvi-Chennai Vande Bharat Express and Chennai- Madurai Vaigai Express the latter will take 15 more minutes to reach the destination, reports India Today.
Due to this scheduling, now Tejas Express will take six hours and 15 minutes to complete its journey. The average time duration for SF trains in the Chennai-Madurai section will be seven hours and 45 minutes. But Southern railway has not updated its travel schedule yet.
The official sources said that these changes were made considering terminal constraints and other operational reasons.
S Vivekananthan, a rail enthusiast said, “Considering the extensive work completed in the Chennai-Madurai section, a reduction in travel time was expected. The rescheduling appears to be a strategy of the railways to promote ridership in premium trains.”
The Chennai-Coimbatore Kovai Express which usually takes less than seven hours to cover 497 km, now reaches Chennai with 30 minutes delay. Similarly, Brindavan Express takes six hours to reach its destination while it usually took less than 5 hours.
Another rail enthusiast, S Raja Pandiyan, said huge amounts of public funds were being invested in track upgradation. “However, such works seem to be benefiting premier trains, whose ticket fares are ten to 15 times higher than regular SF trains. This is a misuse of public funds,” he added.
And it is reported that the timings of the Alappuzha-Ernakulam Express and the Jana Shatabdi will be changed on the Alappuzha route for the smooth running of Vande Bharat.
