Tamil Nadu will get its quota of the
superfast Vande Bharat between Chennai
Central and Coimbatore next month but the
journey time between the two cities will be almost be the same as Shatabdi
express which takes seven hours cover the distance.
Vande
bharat may reach Coimbatore a few minutes early compared to Shatabdi but the
fares will be stiff, according to railway sources.
So long as the railway tracks are weak and
the signaling system backward, the super fast trains between Chennai and
Coimbatore will take seven hours to cover the 500 kilometer distance.
Currently the
tracks can take an average speed of 110 kilometers per hour whereas Vande bharat
trains operating in other parts of the country has an average speed of at least
150 kilometers per hour.
The civil works to reinforce the tracks have
been completed and the railway lines are expected to be cleared for operation
by the commissioner of railway safety by April.. “Once the sectional speed is
increased to 130 kmph, the travel time of trains plying on Chennai -
Jolarpettai (214 km) track will be cut by 10 to 15 minutes. Subsequently, the
overall journey time between two cities will go down to less than 7 hours..
Currently, the 495 km Chennai-Coimbatore
section is served by two super express trains and a Shatabdi express during the
day. The Shatabdi express covers the distance in 7 hours. The permitted
sectional speed in this section is 110 kmph. Railways are operating the slowest
Vande bharat train between Chennai and Mysore.
The
problems are the same weak tracks and obsolete signaling system all over Southern
Railways.