Bhubaneswar: The first trial run of the Howrah-Puri Vande Bharat Express commenced at 6.10 am from Howrah station on Friday.
The indigenously built semi-high speed is scheduled to reach Puri at 12.35 pm on Friday and its journey in the return direction will commence from Puri at 1.50 pm. The train will reach Howrah at 8.30 pm today.
The Howrah-Puri Vande Bharat Express will have stoppages at six stations – Kharagpur, Bhadrak, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, and Khurda- between Howrah and Puri. The train will stop for two minutes at each station on its route.
According to sources in the Indian Railways, the second trial run will be held on April 30 from Howrah to Bhadrak and Bhadrak to Howrah. The third trial run will be on May 1 after receiving an update from the Railway Board regarding the inauguration of the Vande Bharat Express rake.
After the trial runs are completed, the Vande Bharat will run between pilgrim city Puri and Howrah and take 5.30 hours to cover the 500 km distance between the two cities.
The date of commencement is yet to be announced.
For the uninitiated, Vande Bharat is an electric multiple-unit, semi-high-speed train with automatic doors, and a GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system.
