Ekm-Bengaluru Vande Bharat, Keralas 3rd, chugs off today

KOCHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the new Vande Bharat Express to Kerala -- between Ernakulam Junction and KSR Bengaluru -- through videoconferencing on Saturday. The main event will be held at the Banaras railway station in Uttar Pradesh, from where the Prime Minister will flag off four Vande Bharat services -- Banaras-Khajuraho, Lucknow Jn-Saharanpur, and Firozpur Cantt-Delhi, besides the Ernakulam-Bengaluru train. This will be the third Vande Bharat service for Kerala and the first inter-state Vande Bharat service linking Kerala with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, a Railways spokesperson said. With the introduction of the service, 12 pairs of Vande Bharat trains will serve the Southern Railway jurisdiction. The new Vande Bharat Express will provide seamless connectivity between Bengaluru and Ernakulam. This train traverses major cities of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, including Thrissur, Palakkad, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode, and Salem, before reaching Krishnarajapuram and KSR Bengaluru. The service will greatly benefit IT professionals, businessmen, and students, among others, the spokesperson said. The function at Varanasi will be live-streamed at the Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode, and Salem stations. Elected representatives, other dignitaries, students, passengers, and the general public will participate in the event. The train will be accorded a warm reception at all the stations, the spokesperson added.