Madurai–Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express train to run with 16 coaches from Sept 11

CHENNAI: CHENNAI: The Southern Railway has announced the addition of more coaches to Vande Bharat trains operating on the Madurai–Bengaluru and Mangaluru–Thiruvananthapuram routes to meet growing passenger demand.

According to a press release, the Madurai–Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express (Train Nos. 20671/20672) will run with 16 coaches instead of 8 from September 11.

Similarly, the Mangaluru Central–Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express (Train Nos. 20631/20632) will be expanded from 16 to 20 coaches starting September 9.

The Chennai Egmore–Tirunelveli Vande Bharat Express, which records consistently high occupancy, is also set to be upgraded from 16 to 20 coaches.

According to the Railway Board, these are among seven Vande Bharat routes identified for augmentation after reviewing occupancy trends for the financial year 2025–26 (up to July 31, 2025). The other upgraded routes include Secunderabad–Tirupati, Deoghar–Varanasi, Howrah–Rourkela, and Indore–Nagpur.

Explaining the decision, Dilip Kumar, Executive Director (Information & Publicity), Railway Board, said, “On the basis of occupancy and feasibility, three 16-car trains will be upgraded to 20-car and four 8-car trains will be increased to 16-car. A tentative replacement plan has also been drawn up, wherein released 8-car and 16-car rakes will be utilised for running new services.”