Bengaluru-Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper flagged off, to halt at Pune and seven other stations

A new overnight rail service between Bengaluru and Mumbai has begun. The Bengaluru-Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper Express was flagged off on Sunday from Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal (SMVB) in Bengaluru. The train will halt at eight places en route, and Pune is one of them.

The 16-coach train was flagged off by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi, H.D. Kumaraswamy, Shobha Karandlaje and V. Somanna were also present at the event.

The train will cover about 1,118 km in roughly 16 hours. It will run six days a week. It will not leave Bengaluru on Mondays and will not leave Mumbai on Tuesdays. Besides Pune, its stops are Anantapur, Guntakal, Raichur, Yadgir, Kalaburagi, Solapur and Kalyan. The train will thus connect cities in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Speaking at the event, Vaishnaw said the train would connect Bengaluru, the country's IT and startup hub, with Mumbai, the country's financial capital. He also said the route passes through parts of North Karnataka that earlier did not have a world-class train service.

The timings, especially for Pune passengers: Train No. 27651 will leave Mumbai CSMT at 8.10 pm and reach Pune at 11.40 pm. After a five-minute halt, it will leave Pune at 11.45 pm and reach Bengaluru at 12 noon the next day.

In the opposite direction, Train No. 27652 will leave Bengaluru at 7.45 pm and reach Pune at 8 am the next morning. It will leave Pune at 8.05 am and reach Mumbai CSMT at 11.55 am.

Regular service begins from Mumbai on November 2 and from Bengaluru on November 3.

On design and safety, the train has an under-slung propulsion system, regenerative braking and an aerodynamic body. Its stainless-steel structure meets EN15227 crash safety standards. It also has sealed flexible gangways, automatic sliding plug doors, noise-reducing insulation and LED lighting.

For safety, the train has the Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), CCTV cameras, a smoke and fire detection system, fire barrier doors and emergency alarm buttons for passengers. There is also separate lighting for disaster management.

For passenger comfort, the coaches have vacuum evacuation toilets. Separate berths and toilets are provided for passengers with disabilities. Luggage space is also fairly open. Passengers will get three-pin charging sockets, Type-A and Type-C USB ports and Wi-Fi.