With a Vande Bharat Express rake that was brought to Kochuveli earlier this week being taken to Mangaluru on Thursday, possibly for operating on the Mysore-Chennai route, the probability of a Vande Bharat Express service on the high-in-demand Ernakulam-Bengaluru route looks bleak in the immediate future.
Commuters from Kerala will thus in all probability have to contend with the announced extension of the Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod Vande Bharat Express (through Alappuzha) to Mangaluru, it is learnt.
Yet another demand was to extend the Bengaluru-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express to Ernakulam, to improve its patronage. With the pair of Vande Bharat trains operating in Kerala having approximately 150% occupancy, thanks to the average speed of express trains in the State hovering at around 50 kmph, there was also a demand to extend the Goa-Mangaluru Vande Bharat Express to either Kozhikode or Ernakulam. The Goa train has been operating with relatively low occupancy.
Maintenance facilities in Ernakulam are being upgraded to host the Vande Bharat Express.
