Made to cut travel time, it chugs along

COIMBATORE: Almost a month after the Vande Bharat Express train from Coimbatore to Bengaluru began to chug in, the call for rescheduling and reducing the duration of its travel has grown louder among railway enthusiasts and passengers.

Activists claim this as one among the slowest of Vande Bharat trains running across the country.

“As per the operation schedule, the train takes 6.40 hours to travel a distance of around 380 km clocking an average speed of just 57 km per hour. Whereas, the Vande Bharat train operated between Coimbatore and Chennai covers a distance of 500 km within a span of around six hours at an average speed of 89 km per hour,” said J Satish, Director of Kongu Global Forum and former member of Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee.

Passengers look for rescheduling the train’s departure time from 5 am to 6.10 am at Coimbatore and from 1.40 pm to 2.30 pm in Bengaluru along with reduction in travel duration from 6.40 hours to 5.45 hours.

Generally, the Vande Bharat trains have gained patronage for providing faster travel and convenient timing in terms of departure and arrival for passengers. Perhaps the train between Coimbatore and Bengaluru runs short of these expectations.

Firstly, the Coimbatore–Bengaluru Vande Bharat lacks convenient timing as a passenger had to get ready and start from home at odd hours to board the train in early morning. It isn’t convenient during the return journey too from Bengaluru to Coimbatore, when passengers had to rush at least an hour before by forgoing lunch to reach the station on time.

Secondly, the train runs slow as if to test one's patience despite charging an exorbitant fare. “A reason cited for this slowdown is that the train runs on and off on a hilly and curvy terrain for around 100 km through Dharmapuri and Hosur from Salem. Yet, curiously, of the total journey time of 6.30 hours, the train reaches Bengaluru on a majority of days by 45 minutes to one hour prior to the scheduled time. Its scheduling, which has been fixed incorrectly, should be revised for the convenience of passengers. Suddenly the bookings for the month of February and ensuing months were stopped for some days in January for reasons unknown,” added J Satish.

Despite all these issues, the patronage for the train remains good with over 80 per cent occupancy in the month of January. If the recommended changes are brought forth, the patronage could undoubtedly be enhanced to 100 per cent.

Vanathi Srinivasan, BJP MLA from Coimbatore South also, in a recent communication to Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw demanded to reschedule the departure of Vande Bharat train at Coimbatore after 6 am as the current departure timing is too early for passengers to reach the station.

“While this train takes only six hours to complete the journey, the official timetable declares six hours and 30 minutes of travel time. This needs an immediate relook to avoid confusion among the travellers,” she said.

The next immediate train from Coimbatore is Uday Express, which starts at 5.45 am and chugs into Bengaluru at 12.30 pm. Passengers find it convenient as the travel time by this train takes a little extra by around 6.45 hrs and the fare costs less than the Vande Bharat train.

In an alternative plan, the railway passengers suggest swapping the travel route between Uday Express, which goes by Jolarpet from Salem to reach Kuppam and Krishnarajapuram to reach Bengaluru with Vande Bharat that takes another route from Salem towards Dharmapuri, Hosur to reach its destination.

“If the routes of both the trains are swapped, then Vande Bharat can reach Bengaluru through Kuppam and Jolarpet within five hours as it would enable the train to run at a maximum speed. There will be no issues even if Uday Express takes a little longer while going through the hilly terrain in Dharmapuri by adhering to speed restrictions. Even after route change, the patronage will be good on both the trains,” claimed passengers.

From Coimbatore to Bengaluru, not less than 150 buses go, besides three flight services and thousands of people travel on their individual vehicles on a daily basis.

An official of Salem Division of the Southern Railways said they have received representations from passengers, traders and associations for change in time as the existing time schedule is inconvenient. They have also sought to shorten the duration of the train.

“Their demands have been taken to the notice of officials in zonal headquarters, where the issues are being worked out. The existing patronage for the Coimbatore-Bengaluru train is good,” the official said.