Bengaluru: The highly anticipated Vande Bharat sleeper service between KSR Bengaluru and CSMT Mumbai is likely to face further delays before hitting the tracks. Despite missing the Aug target, South Western Railway (SWR) still does not have a train ready to operate the service, with the allocated rake now being moved out of Bengaluru.Since the flagship service is proposed to operate overnight, six days a week in both directions, two rakes will be required for its operation. Vande Bharat sleeper trains are currently being manufactured in Bengaluru by PSU Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) as part of a joint venture with Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai.So far, six rakes have been delivered to the railways, of which two are already in use on the Howrah–Kamakhya Jn service. The Railway Board had initially planned in July to allocate two rakes for the Bengaluru–Mumbai route and two to the Northern Railway (NR) zone.The board has now changed its decision and decided to transfer one rake allocated to SWR in Bengaluru for Shakur Basti Railway Station under NR zone. The move has left Bengaluru with no ready trains while the second allocated rake is yet to be handed over. However, the railways is yet to allocate two remaining rakes.Sources told TOI last week, the Railway Board directed SWR to move the rake stationed in Bengaluru “on priority” towards Delhi through Dharmavaram, Raichur, Balharshah and Palwal.Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in April stated that the service will start operating from Aug. Sources now expect the service to be rolled out not before the end of Sept with more changes in rake allocation not ruled out. Though Vande Bharat sleeper was launched earlier this year, the wait for superfast connectivity between India’s tech and financial capitals had been a three-decade long demand.SWR’s chief PRO Manjunath Kanamadi did not comment on the status of the train when approached by TOI.As of now, only two direct trains connect Bengaluru and Mumbai, with Udyaan Express being the only daily train. In Sept 2025, Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya had announced a superfast train between the two cities. While a biweekly express train was flagged off, the promise of a superfast train remains unfulfilled even after a year.
