PM flags off south India’s first Vande Bharat Express train between Mysuru-Chennai
The Hindu
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off two much-awaited trains from Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station in Bengaluru on November 11
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off two much-awaited trains from Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station in Bengaluru on November 11.
The Prime Minister, along with Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, flagged off south India’s first Vande Bharat Express between Mysuru-Chennai via Bengaluru, and the Bharat Gaurav Kashi Darshan train.
The Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai Vande Bharat Express is part of the 75 Vande Bharat Express trains expected to be running all across India by the end of 2023.
The Karnataka Bharat Gaurav Kashi Darshan train offers an 8-day tour package at discounted rates for pilgrims and will cover Varanasi, Ayodhya and Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. The Karnataka Government has announced a subsidy of ₹5,000 for Kashi Yatra pilgrims.
The Prime Minister, who arrived at the HAL airport in the morning, was welcomed by Karnataka Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot and Mr. Bommai. Mr. Modi made a brief stopover at Vidhana Soudha to pay tributes to Kanakadasa and Valmiki before heading to Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station to flag off the Vande Bharat Express and the Bharat Gaurav Kashi Darshan train.
In the Union Budget for 2022-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed the development and manufacture of 400 new Vande Bharat Express trains in the next three years, which will be running in different parts of India.
The Vande Bharat Express train is manufactured in the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai as part of the ‘Make in India’ programme. The Vande Bharat Express train is an indigenously designed and manufactured semi-high-speed, self-propelled train that is touted as the next major leap for the Indian Railways in terms of speed and passenger convenience since the introduction of Rajdhani trains.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.