While the Railway Ministry denied any election link to how train launches are planned across states and routes, the number of trains allocated to the poll-bound states tells a different story
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off nine Vande Bharat trains on Sunday, amid speculation that many of the launches so far have been planned with an eye on Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana that will go to the polls before Lok Sabha elections 2024.
While the Railway Ministry denied any election link to how train launches are planned across states and routes, the number of trains allocated to the poll-bound states tells a different story.
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Since April 1, at least 15 new Vande Bharat trains have been launched by the Railway Ministry and now nine more trains will hit the tracks.
Of the 15 new Vande Bharats, BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh has received three trains, including two intra-state ones. The state got its first Vande Bharat in April, and in June, two more trains were flagged off – all from Bhopal. While the first train enhanced Bhopal’s connectivity with Delhi, the other two offered better service towards Jabalpur and Indore. However, Madhya Pradesh is not getting a new set of trains on Sunday.
Congress-ruled Rajasthan, a critical state for the BJP, will be getting its first intrastate Vande Bharat on Sunday, connecting Jaipur and Udaipur. This is the third train for Rajasthan since April. The state got its first Vande Bharat in April – between Ajmer and Delhi. In July, another train was allocated to the state connecting Jodhpur and Sabarmati in Gujarat.
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Seven of these 15 trains have been given to states that will go to polls in the next six months, including Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
Odisha, which will be voting in both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the first half of 2024, received its first Vande Bharat in May, between Puri and Howrah. Now, it will receive a dedicated train between Puri and Rourkela from the new set of trains.
EYE ON LOK SABHA ELECTIONS?
With Lok Sabha elections few months away, states that may prove to be a challenge for the BJP are West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Kerala, that received the first Vande Bharat in April, is getting another train on Sunday. It will be running on the same route as earlier, with the difference of just one stoppage. Interestingly, Kerala is the only state that has received two train that are intrastate and also running between the same destinations – Kasaragod and Trivandrum Central.
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West Bengal, that got its first Vande Bharat in December 2022, got two more trains in May and will now be getting two more trains.
Similarly, Tamil Nadu got its first train in November 2022 and second in April 2023. Now, two more trains will be added to the fleet. Of these four trains, two are intrastate. Both Chennai and Howrah will now have four dedicated Vande Bharat trains.
Speaking to News18, a ministry official said that the train routes are decided on the basis of need and demand. “All the states are now connected with Vande Bharat trains. Polls have no role in Railways’ approval of routes,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The nine 8-coach Vande Bharat trains that will hit the tracks from Sunday are Rourkela-Puri, Udaipur-Jaipur, Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram, Ranchi-Howrah, Patna-Howrah, Tirunelveli-Chennai, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Vijayawada-Chennai, and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad.
In total, currently 25 Vande Bharat trains are operational. The number will increase to 34 after Sunday.
