The Dharwad Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express is commemorating its first anniversary today, celebrating a year of enhanced connectivity, efficiency, and passenger satisfaction.
With the perseverance of Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi, Indian Railways introduced Vande Bharat Express between Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru and Hubballi Dharwad on June 27th, 2023.
Since its inaugural run on June 27, 2023, the Vande Bharat Express has consistently met high standards of service and performance. It is the first intrastate Vande Bharat Express in Karnataka.
Equipped with modern amenities, including comfortable seating, advanced safety features, and onboard catering, the train has quickly become a preferred choice for travellers.
The introduction of the Vande Bharat Express has cut the travel time between Dharwad and Bengaluru to just six hours, a significant improvement over the other options.
As expected, the train has been well patronized by the citizens of Hubballi Dharwad. Around 80% of the bookings of the train comes from Hubballi Dharwad alone.
In the Executive Class (EC), bookings from Hubballi is 53.57%, Dharwad is 31.4% and from Davanagere is 15.01%. Bookings from Hubballi Dharwad = 84.97% (Train 20662).
In the reverse direction, Train 20661 gets 58.09% bookings from Hubballi, 26.2% from Dharwad 31.4% and from Davanagere is 15.67%. Bookings from Hubballi Dharwad = 84.31%.
In the Chair Car (CC), only 25.56% of the seats booked are from Davanagere while the bookings from Hubballi is 43.16% and Dharwad is 31.24%. Bookings from Hubballi Dharwad = 74.42% (Train 20662).
The overall occupancy of Vande Bharat Express is as follows: Executive Class (EC) – 82.02% in Train 20662 (Dharwad to Bengaluru) and 73.27% in Train 20661 (Bengaluru to Dharwad).
As far as Chair Car (CC), the overall occupancy is as follows: 80.39% in Train 20662 (Dharwad to Bengaluru) and 73.7% in Train 20661 (Bengaluru to Dharwad).
Vande Bharat Express (Train 20661) departs KSR Bengaluru (SBC) at 5:45 AM and reaches Dharwad at 12:10 PM. En route, the train stops at Yeshwantpur at 5:55 AM, Davanagere at 9:15 AM, and Hubballi at 11:00 AM.
In the return direction, Train 20662 leaves Dharwad at 1:15 PM and reaches KSR Bengaluru at 7:45 PM. En route, the train stops at Hubballi (1:35 PM), Davanagere (3:38 PM), and Yeshwantpur (6:58 PM).
However, passengers have been demanding the reversal of Vande Bharat Express, departing Dharwad early in the morning reaching Bengaluru at 11 AM and returning to Dharwad by 10 PM.
During the inauguration of Vande Bharat Express last year, Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi had promised to reverse the direction of the train for the greater convenience of passengers.
Also read: Vande Bharat Express gets 80% load from Hubballi Dharwad alone.
Train number 20661/20662 Bengaluru Dharwad Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express operates all days except Tuesday. The train comprises 8 coaches including 7 Chair Car and 1 Executive Chair Car coach.