Visakhapatnam-Bhubaneswar Vande Bharat express begins maiden run with festive celebrations

Visakhapatnam-Bhubaneswar Vande Bharat express inaugurated with festive celebrations, state-of-the-art facilities, and Padma Shri awardees in attendance.

The railway station was spruced up, and wore a festive look with banners welcoming the guests for the virtual flagging off the Visakhapatnam-Bhubaneswar Vande Bharat express by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

A red carpet was rolled out on the platform and a stage was erected towards the north-end on Platform no.1 (PF-1) at Visakhapatnam junction. The orange livery of the new train, placed on the platform, alongside the meeting venue, looked impressive, to say the least.

The orange flowers and the colourful canopy matched the ambience. A large screen was placed on the stage to enable the guests and visitors to watch the event through video conference.

Padma Shri awardees S.V. Adinarayana and Kutikuppala Surya Rao, Divisional Railway Manager Saurabh Prasad, AP Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) Divisional Manager Haritha and other officials and guests were present at the inaugural function.

Addressing the gathering, the DRM expressed happiness that Visakhapatnam was getting two more Vande Bharat trains one to Bhubaneswar and the other to Secunderabad. This takes the total Vande Bharat trains operating from Visakahpatnam to three as there was already one existing Vande Bharat express between Visakhapatnam and Secunderabad, which was launched in January 2023.

He said that the Prime Minister also dedicated to the nation various infrastructure works over Waltair Division including a goods shed, developed at a cost of ₹3.5 crore at Dumuriput in Koraput, the completed stretches of the doubling works over K-K line and the third line between Vizianagaram and Titlagarh.

The Visakhapatnam-Bhubaneswar Vande Bharat express has eight coaches. The seven Chair Cars have a total of 530 seats and one Executive Chair Car will have 52 seats. Souvenir tickets were issued to passengers by Waltair Division. The passengers, who boarded the train at Visakhapatnam, expressed joy at the state-of-the-art facilities inside the new train like CCTV screens, LCD screens and audio systems to display and announce the approaching stations.