Vande Bharat Sleeper Proposal between Trivandrum and Bangalore

The story of the struggle for a fast daily train with proper, usable timings between Trivandrum and Bangalore is as old as the hills. Only, it is no story. No other overnight route in the country is as underserved as those between the capitals of the four southern states. And the Trivandrum – Bangalore route would certainly take the cake from among them. The story of the struggle for a sensible daily train between the state capitals of Kerala and Karnataka is literally decades old saga of many, many voices crying themselves hoarse with with little respite. Various governments, administrations and railway ministries have come and gone but the story has remained more or less the same.

Those who have been travelling between south Kerala and Bangalore for the last few decades know how taxing an ordeal it is. The route has been always the monopoly of unscrupulous private bus operators who have since forever used their lobbying power and influence to block any trains from starting on this most highly demanded route. There easily exists a demand for atleast four daily overnight trains on this route and two more during weekends. However, what there is, is only two, the legendary 16526/5 Bangalore – Kanniyakumari Island Express and the 16316/5 Trivandrum North (Kochuveli) – Mysore Express. There has been no daily train started between Kerala and Bangalore for 15 years now.

The powers that are have ensured that any other trains introduced on the route have been done so with great care to make them as useless as possible. The 12257/12258 Garib Rath Express runs in the opposite direction of what the demand is (Fridays from Trivandrum and Sundays from Bangalore). A few weeklies reach Bangalore at 3 am in the morning. The “Premium Express” that was promised in the railway budget of 2012 never materialised. The 16319/16320 weekend Humsafar Express later introduced in 2018 caters to only half of the direction of the demand because though it departs Bangalore on Fridays it does not return on Sundays but on Saturdays. And its initial timetable with a run of around 14 hours has since been watered down to 16.5 hours. But still, it is better than nothing.

Now it looks like the clouds are finally lifting. After the introduction of the first Vande Bharat Sleeper train between Kolkata and Guwahati, there have been repeated reports that a Vande Bharat Sleeper train might soon be introduced between Trivandrum and Bangalore! And this is now the chance to right this decades-long history of wrongdoing, a befitting culmination to decades of struggle for a proper, fast, elite and dedicated daily overnight connectivity on one of South India’s most demanding routes.

Thiruvananthapuram Central – SMVT Bangalore – Thiruvananthapuram Central Vande Bharat Sleeper Superfast Express (SR)

If this indeed comes to pass, it will be a revolution like no other. A modern, fully reserved, fully airconditioned train connecting all of south Kerala with Bangalore! That is no less than a dream come true, though I no longer travel to Bangalore, it would soothe a lot many nightmares from the times when I used to. Imagine leaving your home in Trivandrum at 630 in the evening to arrive comfortably at your home in Bangalore at 830 in the morning? Or leaving your office in Bangalore at 830 in the evening to reach your home in Ernakulam at 730 in the morning? Yes, it looks like it is actually happening!

The railvine suggests that the train would run from Thiruvananthapuram North (Kochuveli) to SM Vishweshwaraya Terminus (Baiyyppanahalli) in Bangalore. I would like to plead that the train should depart from Trivandrum Central instead of Trivandrum North. Like it is for most “satellite” terminals of the Indian Railways, the Trivandrum North station at Kochuveli is extremely difficult to reach. A narrow road one and a half lanes wide connects the station to the main road two kilometers away, which also happens to be a narrow and chaotic junction. To make things worse it has no public transport connectivity, parking, or any amenities befitting of a terminal station. In addition, we already have three other trains to Bangalore (16315/6, 12257/8 and 16319/20) that depart from Kochuveli while only the veteran Island Express (16525/6) departs from Trivandrum Central.

It would be no sweat for the new Vande Bharat to cover the 800+ kilometers between the state capitals of Kerala and Karnataka in around 12 to 13 hours. This is more than two hours faster than the currently fastest train on the route and more than three hours faster than the most practical train on the route. The train should have most of its stoppages within Kerala and only limited stops outside it. It would also be good to introduce a stoppage at Whitefield in addition to KR Puram to get maximum coverage.

I would like to propose a likely timetable for the new Trivandrum – Bangalore Vande Bharat Sleeper.

Suggested timetable for the Trivandrum – Bangalore Vande Bharat Sleeper

Suggested timetable for the Bangalore – Trivandrum Vande Bharat Sleeper

The return timing is a challenge given the absolute unavailability of slots given the morning traffic into Trivandrum. a A few adjustments of existing trains would be necessary to ensure this timetable to work but given that automatic signalling between Shoranur and Aluva is set to go live during sometime this year any overtakes on this stretch wouldn’t do a lot of damage. At this schedule, the Vande Bharat Sleeper would also offer the perfect overnight connection between Bangalore and Ernakulam after the not-so-perfect daytime connection between the cities. There is no question that this train would be a runaway superhit!