Kerala will soon get additional Vande Bharat rakes, and the official procedures for them have been completed, as per reports. Once the new rakes are here, the two Vande Bharat Express trains of Kerala will have additional coaches. The eight-coach Thiruvananthapuram - Mangaluru Vande Bharat will have 16 coaches, and the 16-coaches-long Thiruvananthapuram - Kasaragod Vande Bharat will have 20. Meanwhile, there is no update yet on restarting the discontinued Ernakulam - Bengaluru Vande Bharat service. However, the Railway had earlier said it would be resumed after deciding on the change in its departure time from Bengaluru. The Southern Railway had suggested that the train's departure time from Bengaluru Cantonment station should be delayed by an hour to benefit more passengers.
There is also an increased demand to introduce a Vande Bharat sleeper train on the Mangaluru - Thiruvananthapuram route. This is especially because the Kerala Vande Bharat services enjoy the most passengers, per surveys. This is at a time when certain Vande Bharat services, especially in South India, are running empty and are speculated to be on the verge of discontinuation. The introduction of the Chennai Central - Nagercoil Vande Bharat train also benefited Kerala passengers, as it took only 9 hours to reach Chennai from Thiruvananthapuram. It runs on all days except Wednesdays.
