By Rounak Khare
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off four new Vande Bharat trains in Varanasi. These trains will run on four different routes including Banaras-Khajuraho, Lucknow-Sahranpur, Firozpur-Delhi and Ernakulam-Bengaluru.
The primary aim of these new trains is to cut travel time between key destinations while also boosting regional mobility, tourism and economic activity in these areas. The Banaras- Khajuraho train will connect major cultural and religious hubs such as Prayagraj (previously Allahabad), Varanasi, Chitrakoot and Khajuraho, thereby improving access to the UNESCO world heritage site, while strengthening pilgrimage tourism. The duration of the train ride is 2 hours and 40 minutes.
The Lucknow-Sahranpur train will improve access to Haridwar through Roorkee, and is expected to benefit passengers travelling from Lucknow, Shahjahanpur, Bareilly, Moradabad, Bijnor and Saharanpur. This Vande Bharat will complete the journey in 7 hours 45 minutes, reducing the original travel time by nearly an hour.
The Firozpur-Delhi train will improve the connectivity between Delhi and major cities in Punjab, including Bathinda and Patiala. The Vande Bharat on this route will become the fastest train available, covering the distance in 6 hours 40 minutes. The Ernakulam-Bengaluru Vande Bharat will connect significant IT and commercial hubs, and will run for the duration of 8 hours 40 minutes, which is two hours lesser than the original travel time.
Addressing the gathering at Varanasi, PM Modi stated how these trains not only connect heritage cities but also accelerate development. He talked about the huge number of devotees visiting Uttar Pradesh for practicing their religious beliefs and how their visits have contributed thousands of crores to the state’s economy. Speaking of development, the Prime Minister also explained how infrastructure has played an important role in the development of several countries, but how it is not limited to building bridges and highways, as the development of a city begins on its own as soon as it gets better connectivity.