Bengaluru: Ending a three-decade wait, railways will now operate a second direct train connecting Mumbai and Bengaluru. Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw virtually flagged off the SMVT Bengaluru–Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express from the Karnataka capital Sunday.It will originate from SMVT at 8:35pm Saturdays and Tuesdays and reach Mumbai at 8:40pm the next day. The return service from Mumbai will start at 11:15pm Sundays and Wednesdays and reach Bengaluru by 10:30pm. The train will stop at Sampige Road, Davanagere, Hubballi, Dharwad, Belagavi, Miraj, Sangli, Karad, Satara, Lonand, Pune, Lonavala, Karjat, Kalyan and Thane.The train will operate as a bi-weekly express between the cities, taking around 24 hours to complete the full journey.Despite adding a second train to the route, passenger demands which include a faster daily train, are yet to be fulfilled.Speaking at the flag-off event, Vaishnaw said a Vande Bharat Sleeper service between Bengaluru and Mumbai is expected to start soon. On the Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project (BSRP), he stated that the network will integrate key hubs, including the airport, Electronic City, Marathahalli, and Hebbal.“For the Baiyappanahalli–Chikkabanavara and Heelalige–Rajanukunte corridors, land acquisition has been completed and station works are currently in progress. The KSR Bengaluru–Devanahalli alignment has been jointly approved by the state govt and the railways, and the geotechnical survey has been completed. The Kengeri–Whitefield alignment was recently approved, and survey work will commence shortly”, Vaishnaw elaborated.Additionally, a Vande Bharat Sleeper maintenance depot will be established at Thanisandra at a cost of R 270 crore, along with a chair car maintenance facility at SMVT Bengaluru costing Rs 52.7 crore.Criticising the state govt’s push for tunnel road corridors in the city, Vaishnaw said Bengaluru needs rail-based solutions for its transport issues.“We all know that Bengaluru needs a huge amount of work on transportation and it needs very realistic, very practical solutions and not very impractical solutions like digging tunnels,” he said.Bangalore South MP, Tejasvi Surya, who virtually attended the event, requested Vaishnaw for a high-speed rail corridor between the cities: “Our request is to also consider a high-speed rail corridor between Bengaluru and Mumbai that goes via Davangere and Hubballi because Mumbai and Bengaluru have lakhs of people who travel between these two cities. This will also help in a big boost to economic activities in central and North Karnataka,” he said.
