Vande Bharat to Run between Gorakhpur And Lucknow from July 7, to Connect Ayodhya And Basti

The Vande Bharat Express between Lucknow and Gorakhpur is all set for launch on July 7 and will connect Ayodhya and Basti on the way, completing the journey in a little over four hours, officials aware of the matter told News18 on Tuesday.

The train will connect Ayodhya with Uttar Pradesh’s capital Lucknow on one side and another religious hub, Gorakhpur, on the other ahead of the Ram Mandir inauguration around the beginning of the new year.

This will be the first time that Gorakhpur will be getting a train of this stature. The district, which has the world’s second longest railway platform after Hubli Junction in Karnataka, is not connected by any Shatabdi or Rajdhani.

Gorakhpur station is the headquarters of the North Eastern Railway (NER). This Vande Bharat will be the first for the NER.

“The Prime Minister will be inaugurating the train on July 7. It will be the fastest train on the route as it will cover the 300-kilometre distance in 4 hours and 10 minutes. The train will have stoppages at Basti and Ayodhya,” an official told News18 on condition of anonymity.

So far, Gorakhdham Express and Bihar Sampark Kranti Express are the fastest trains between Lucknow and Gorakhpur that complete the journey in 4 hours and 45 minutes.

On Sunday, the Vande Bharat took its first trial run from Lucknow, and on Tuesday the trial was conducted from Gorakhpur.

While the final schedule is yet to be made public, the official added that the train will commence the commercial journey from Lucknow in the evening and from Gorakhpur in the morning.

This will be the second dedicated Vande Bharat for Uttar Pradesh after the one that became operational between Delhi and Varanasi. However, two more Vande Bharats – Delhi-Dehradun and Delhi-Bhopal – have stoppages in Uttar Pradesh.

Enhancing connectivity between Ayodhya and Gorakhpur

While this train will be between Lucknow and Gorakhpur, it is going to ease the journey between Ayodhya and Gorakhpur in a better way.

A number of trains connect Ayodhya and Lucknow; however, the train connectivity from Ayodhya towards Gorakhpur is limited. Another route through Gonda and Basti offers faster connectivity for trains between Lucknow and Gorakhpur.

Launching this train ahead of the opening of the temple will ease travel to Ayodhya from Gorakhpur.

Second Vande Bharat for poll-bound Rajasthan

Apart from the Lucknow-Gorakhpur Vande Bharat, the Prime Minister will also be inaugurating another Vande Bharat for Jodhpur and Sabarmati through videoconferencing.

This will be the second Vande Bharat for Rajasthan, which will go to polls later this year.

In April, the first Vande Bharat for Rajasthan was inaugurated by the Prime Minister between Ajmer and Delhi. The PM attended the event through videoconferencing only.

Last week, at least five pairs of Vande Bharat were inaugurated on the same day. With these trains, the total count of the Vande Bharat trains has reached 23 or 46 services. All electrified states have been connected with these semi-high-speed trains.

With the launch of the two trains, a total of 50 services of Vande Bharat will be operational.

The official also said that in total 27 Vande Bharat trains have been manufactured and two of these are kept for emergencies – one in Delhi and another in Chennai.