From Oct 19, Vande Bharat to run every day, barring Friday

Vande Bharat, a fully AC train with 16 coaches, will run between Chandigarh and Delhi six days a week except Friday.

Vande Bharat Express train arrives at New Delhi Railway Station after being flagged off from Una district, in New Delhi (PTI)

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off Vande Bharat on Thursday, the travel time between Chandigarh and Delhi will now be cut short to three hours, half an hour less than what it takes by Shatabdi, from October 19.

Vande Bharat, a fully AC train with 16 coaches, will run between Chandigarh and Delhi six days a week except Friday. The fair is slightly higher than Shatabdi, which follows the flexi fare pattern with dynamic fare.

Fare of Rs 745 was decided for AC chair car and Rs 1,445 was for the executive chair car. These fares include the catering, reservation, tax and superfast charges. The minimum net fare of AC chair car and executive chair car in Shatabdi is Rs 680 and Rs 1,285. Usually, the maximum net fare of Shatabdi ticket goes up to Rs 892 (chair car) and Rs 1,495 (executive chair) as seats full in the short time.

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Vande Bharat will reach Chandigarh from Una at 3.25 pm and depart for Delhi at 3.30 pm. From Delhi, it will reach Chandigarh at 8.40 am and depart for Una at 8.45 am.

With Vande Bharat, the overall connectivity of Chandigarh to Delhi has increased.

“The Shatabdi’s fare follows the pattern of flexi fare which means as 50 per cent seats are booked/reserved, ticket prices for other seats increase five times more than the base fare of the ticket. So far, there is no provision of flexi fare in Vande Bharat but as it is a premium train, we are expecting this train will also follow the flexi fare pattern. A detailed chart will be released shortly. Earlier, it was decided that Vande Bharat will not run on Wednesday but today its non-operational day was changed to Friday,” said Senior DCM, Ambala, Hari Mohan Singh.

The decision was taken keeping in mind Chandigarh-New Delhi Shatabdi which departs from Chandigarh Railway Station at 12.05 pm but does not ply on Wednesday. Vande Bharat will take the place of Chandigarh-New Delhi Shatabdi on Wednesday.

With Vande Bharat, the overall connectivity of Chandigarh to Delhi has increased. “Apart from other trains, three Shatabdis — two Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdis and one Chandigarh-New Delhi Shatabdi — are already running and now Vande Bharat is there,” said DRM, Ambala, Gurinder Mohan Singh.

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