Bengaluru: Railway ministry will soon extend Mangaluru-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express to Bengaluru, meeting two long-standing demands from rail users for premium train services connecting Karnataka’s capital with Mangaluru and Goa.TOI has learnt that railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw wrote to two MPs from Karnataka, Brijesh Chowta and Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, earlier this month, communicating the decision to extend the train route.Currently, 20646/20645 Mangaluru Central–Madgaon Vande Bharat Express runs six days a week, with no service Thursdays. According to its timetable, the train takes a little less than six hours to complete a single-direction journey.Proposals to operate Vande Bharat between Bengaluru and Goa were first initiated by South Western Railway (SWR), Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) and Southern Railway (SR), in Feb. They suggested the train originate from Yeshwantpur in Bengaluru at 6:05am and reach Madgaon in Goa by 7:15pm, taking 13 hours. Currently, trains between Bengaluru and Goa take around 15 hours.Vaishnaw said the extension will make the train terminate at Yeshwantpur Junction, traversing through Kabaka Puttur and Subrahmanya Road stations. It will become the first self-propelled train to travel along the 55-km ghats section between Sakleshpur and Subrahmanya Road after it was electrified in late 2025.Though the proposal initially suggested a bypass without entering Mangaluru Central station, the plan has now been changed. For Bengaluru-Mangaluru route, two trial runs using a 16-car rake were conducted in Sept, and the train took less than seven hours to complete the journey.The number of commercial stops in the final timetable will determine the total running time. While timings are yet to be finalised, the train will run with entirely new numbers, 26655/26656 in both directions. It will also be renamed Yeshwantpur-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express. The commencement date of the extended service has not been finalised; SWR officials did not comment on the matter.
