The trial run of Chennai-Mysuru Vande Bharat Express began at Chennai's MG Ramachandran Central Railway station on Monday, November 7. The train, the first such indigenously-built high-speed rail in the southern part of India, is scheduled to be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, November 11. 

This will be the fifth Vande Bharat Express in India. The first one was flagged off on February 15 2019, on the New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route.

Vande Bharat Express
Trail run for the Vande Bharat express began in Chennai today

Here's everything you need to know about the new train:

The train - part of the 'make in India' campaign - is an advanced version of Vande Bharat compared to the earlier ones. It is a train set rake of 16 Coaches comprising Executive Class and Chair Car coaches but is much lighter. Due to this, it has the capability of reaching higher speeds in a shorter duration, i.e., 100 km per hour in just 52 seconds.

Further, this train also has reclining seats, automatic fire sensors, CCTV cameras, on-demand content with wifi Facility, three-hour battery backup and GPS systems. In addition, there are rotating chairs in the executive class.

The coaches also come fitted with the Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) called KAVACH and have disaster lights.

vande bharat
Vande Bharat, also known as Train 18IANS

Once launched, the new train will depart from MGR Chennai Central at 5:50 am and reach Bengaluru City Junction at 10:25 am. From Bengaluru, it will depart at 10:30 am and reach its final destination, Mysuru, at 12:30 pm. This means, it will cover around 497 km in 6 hours and 40 minutes.

It will run for six days a week and will not be available on Wednesday. According to reports, it will pass Perambur, Veppampattu, Katpadi Junction, Gudupalli and Malur but will not stop at any of the stations. 

The tickets will reportedly cost Rs 921 (Chennai-Mysuru route) in economy class and Rs 1,880 for executive class. The travel between Mysuru and Bengaluru will cost Rs 368 and Rs 768, respectively.

This comes as Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced during Union Budget for 2022-23 speech that  400 new energy-efficient Vande Bharat trains will be introduced in three years.