Karnataka's second Vande Bharat Express flagged off from Bengaluru. Watch

Karnataka governor Thawar Chand Gehlot and union minister Pralhad Joshi were present at Bengaluru’s KSR station while Vande Bharat Express left to Dharwad.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday has virtually flagged off Bengaluru – Dharwad Vande Bharat Express along with four other services at different states. Karnataka governor Thawar Chand Gehlot and union minister Pralhad Joshi were present at Bengaluru’s KSR station while Vande Bharat Express left to Dharwad from the city.

Vande Bharat Express, which will link Bengaluru and Dharwad, was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

The trail run of this much awaited Vande Bharat was conducted last week and Hubballi – Dharwad can now be reached in 6 hours 30 minutes on this super-fast express. The train route distance between Bengaluru and Dharwad is 489 kilometers and it travels at an average speed of 70 kmph. The express train will connect important cities in the state - Dharwad, Hubballi and Davangere with the state capital Bengaluru. It will immensely benefit tourists, students and industrialists, etc. in the region and will be about 30 minutes faster than the existing fastest train on the route. This will be second Vande Bharat train for Karnataka as the first one runs between Chennai, Bengaluru and Mysuru. The Indian railways is also reportedly planning to launch Vande Bharat Express trains to Coimbatore and Secunderabad from Bengaluru.

The four new routes launched today apart from Bengaluru-Dharwad on which the semi-high-speed trains will operate are- Rani Kamalapati (Bhopal)-Jabalpur Vande Bharat Express; Khajuraho-Bhopal-Indore Vande Bharat Express; Madgaon (Goa)-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express; and Hatia-Patna Vande Bharat Express.