The Bengaluru Dharwad Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express (Train number 20661 and 20662) is getting excellent response with 80% of the bookings being made from Hubballi Dharwad alone.
With the perseverance of Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi, Indian Railways introduced Vande Bharat Express between Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru and Hubballi Dharwad in June 2023.
The train which will celebrate its first anniversary on June 27th, 2023 is a hit amongst working class and business travellers, providing them a comfortable and safe journey.
A lot of misinformation is being spread on social media about the occupancy of the train. Many on social media have resorted to publishing unverified, baseless claims.
In the era of the Digital Revolution, it is very easy to debunk the baseless claims through RTI and other means. It is advisable to stay away from baseless claims to save themselves from embarrassment.
One of them was that the train gets very low occupancy from Hubballi Dharwad and gets full at Davanagere. So, we decided to do a reality check through RTI and here are the results.
In the Executive Class (EC), only 15.01% of the seats booked are from Davanagere while the bookings from Hubballi is 53.57% and Dharwad at 31.4%. Bookings from Hubballi Dharwad = 84.97% (Train 20662).
In the reverse direction, Train 20661 gets 15.67% bookings from Davanagere and 58.09% and 26.2% bookings from Hubballi and Dharwad respectively. 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).
In the reverse direction, Train 20661 gets 25.78% bookings from Davanagere and 50.03% and 24.2% bookings from Hubballi and Dharwad respectively. Bookings from Hubballi Dharwad = 74.23%.
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).
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.