From Wednesday, the Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express will have full-fledged 16 coaches and also travel faster, reaching the destination earlier by 15 minutes each on both sides.
The train launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month began with eight coaches but unprecedented demand for the daytime train forced the Railways to double the capacity from 530 seats to 1,128, said senior officials on Monday.
The train will complete its journey in both directions in eight hours, 15 minutes instead of the present duration of eight and a half hours. From the inaugural day, the service with one executive and seven chair cars has been witnessing over 100% occupancy – 131% in April and 138% in May.
Till date, 44,992 passengers have availed Vande Bharat service in both directions — 21,798 passengers have travelled from Secunderabad to Tirupati and 23,194 passengers from Tirupati to Secunderabad.
The new-composition train will have 14 chair cars with 1,024 capacity (instead of earlier six with a capacity of 478) and two executive class with 104 capacity (instead of earlier single coach with a capacity of 52).
As per the revised timings to accommodate the reduced travel time, Train No.20701 from Secunderabad to Tirupati will depart at 6.15 a.m. and reach the destination at 2.15 p.m. In the return direction, Train No.20702 will leave Tirupati at 3.15 p.m. and arrive at Secunderabad at 11.30 p.m.
