Patna/Ranchi: The ministry of railways has announced the schedule of Vande Bharat express between Patna to Ranchi, ahead of its inaugural run from Ranchi on July 27. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to flag off the train from Ranchi station via video conferencing at around 4.15 pm.
As per the schedule released by the railway ministry, the train will depart from Patna junction at 7amand reach Ranchi as 1pm. It will run six days a week, except Tuesdays. Patna-Ranchi Vande Bharat train has been assigned number 22349 (towards Ranchi) and 22350 (towards Patna from Ranchi. The train will cover the distance between Ranchi to Patna in 5 hours 50 minutes.
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Vande Bharat will not go to Hatia
The railway minister has turned down the proposal of Ranchi railway division under south eastern railway zone to run the train from Hatia station instead of Ranchi. Officials said that they had planned running the train from Hatia as the station had more equipped than Ranchi for maintenance of sophisticated rakes. Now the train will operate between Ranchi and Patna only.
Two successful trials completed
Officials of the east central railway said that the train will be handed over to Ranchi railway station on June 26 for its inaugural run the next day. Earlier, two successful trials were conducted for the Patna-Ranchi Vande Bharat Express before the flagging off of the train. The first trial run was completed on June 12 and the second trial run from Patna was extended beyond Ranchi till Hatia.
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Five Vande Bharat trains to be flagged off on June 27
Officials said that the Prime Minister Modi will formally inaugurate running of five Vande Bharat express at different places via online. Mumbai-Goa, Bengaluru-Hubballi-Dharwad, Patna-Ranchi, Bhopal-Indore, and Bhopal-Jabalpur Vande Bharat express trains on June 27 through video link by the PM from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat express was scheduled to be inaugurated on June 3, which was postponed due to the accident of trains at Balasore station in Odisha.
Patna-Ranchi Vande Bharat express schedule
According to reports, the train will run six days a week except Tuesday. It will leave Patna Junction at 7 am and reach Ranchi by 1pm with stoppage at Gaya (arrival: 8.25am & departure: 8.35am) Koderma (9.35am/937am), Hazaribag (10.33am/10.35am), Barkakana (11.35am/11.40am) and BIT Mesra (12.20pm/12.22pm).
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The train will start return journey from Ranchi at 4.15pm and reach Patna at 10.05pm with stoppages at BIT Mesra (4.35pm/4.37pm), Barkakana (5.30pm/5.35pm), Hazaribag (6.30pm/6.32pm), Koderma (7.23pm/7.25pm) and Gaya (8.45pm/8.55pm). The Vande Bharat Express will take five hours and 50 minutes cover the distance of around 375km. Reportedly, the average speed of the train will be 70kmph.
Fare
The fare for trains has not been declared yet. However, the likely fare for Vande Bharat is said to be ₹2174 (if catering is included) for executive class and ₹1245 (catering is included) for chair car coaches. Catering charges are, however, optional and passengers are free to get the tickets booked without it. Officials said that the passengers will be able to book their tickets in the next few days through IRCTC websites, the software for which is being modified.
