Yeshwantpur-Madgaon Vande Bharat set for launch amid fare hike details

UPDATE - follow-up to Passengers on Bengaluru-Mangaluru-Goa VB Express pay nearly ₹200 extra fare compared to same distance on other VB services: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the new Bengaluru-Mangaluru-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express on Friday, with regular commercial services under Train Numbers 26655 and 26656 starting November 15 from Yesvantpur and Madgaon.

Launch Details

Two inaugural special trains operate on Friday, with train number 06512 running from SMVT Bengaluru to Madgaon and train number 06212 running in reverse, both using 16-car rakes with stoppages at Hassan, Sakleshpur, Subrahmanya Road, Mangaluru Junction, Udupi, and Karwar. Regular services will run six days a week, omitting Wednesdays from Yesvantpur and Thursdays from Madgaon, while existing services between Madgaon and Mangaluru Central will be discontinued from November 15 as announced by Dr. Manjunath Kanamadi, Chief Public Relations Officer of South Western Railway.

Fare Structure

Patrons riding the regular service will pay base fares of ₹1,369 in Chair Car and ₹2,795 in Executive Chair Car between Yeshwantpur and Madgaon, which is nearly ₹200 extra in chair car and ₹300 extra in executive class compared to similar distances on other routes. The actual distance of 670 km increases to an inflated chargeable distance of 844 km because the Konkan Railway Corporation inflates its network distance by 40% between Thokur and Madgaon, and the South Western Railway doubles the 55 km Ghat section between Sakleshpur and Subrahmanya Road. Railways justify these additions due to heavy maintenance costs and difficult geographical conditions, while other Karnataka routes like Bengaluru to Belagavi maintain standard fares for similar distances.

Context

Railway fare calculations often incorporate distance inflation factors for difficult terrain routes to account for high operational expenses in hilly regions. The Konkan Railway network historically applied similar adjustments to help recover initial construction expenditures for its challenging coastal alignment.