Representative image of Vande Bharat train.
Credit: DH Photo
With the festival season around the corner, the Vande Bharat Express train which ferries to and fro from Bengaluru to Ernakulam in Kerala has been booked to the hilt.
Despite there being 24 days until Christmas, the tickets are entirely sold out and the bookings have even exceeded the waiting list limit, leaving many passengers in a limbo.
This has prompted them to urge the authorities to increase the number of coaches on the train from 8 to 16.
Moreover, not only are passengers unable to book a ticket from December 20-25, the return ticket from Ernakulam (between December 28- January 4) have also been halted.
The KSR Bengaluru-Ernakulam Vande Bharat Express began regular operations from November 11. The train runs daily barring Wednesdays and has travel time of eight hours and forty minutes.
The KSR Bengaluru–Vande Bharat Express, departs at 5.10 am and reaches Ernakulam Junction by 1:50 pm. Meanwhile, the Ernakulam – Bengaluru Vande Bharat starts at 2.20 pm and reaches the destination at 11pm.
The train traverses major cities of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, including Thrissur, Palakkad, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode, and Salem, before reaching Krishnarajapuram and KSR Bengaluru
Only 600 people can travel in the train at a time. If the number of coaches are increased from 8 to 16, then 1200 passengers can travel in one go. The train operates with a single rake comprising seven chair cars and one executive chair car.