Tamil Nadu’s first intra-state Vande Bharat train service between Chennai and Coimbatore was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Dr MGR Ramachandran Chennai Central Railway Station on Saturday in the presence of Chief Minister MK Stalin, Governor RN Ravi and Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
This is the State’s second Vande Bharat after the Chennai-Bengaluru train service launched recently. Across India, it was 14th Vande Bharat train service to be flagged off.
The fare in a chair car between Chennai and Coimbatore will be ₹1,365 and for Executive Chair Car it is ₹2,490.
The maiden run of Chennai-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express clocked 130 kmph. Barely 30 minutes into its journey, the train achieved a speed of 130 kmph. At this speed, the journey time between the State’s capital and the Manchester of South India will reduce by an hour and 20 minutes to a total of 5 hours and 50 minutes.
Modi spent just 20 minutes at the function. Before flagging off the train, he interacted briefly inside the train with around 50 students from IIT Madras who are working on 5G and HyperLoop.
Sukhram a resident of Sowcarpet in Chennaia frequent traveller between the two cities, says it is a big time saver.