Vande Bharat Express news: Patna-Ranchi, Patna-Howrah, Varanasi-Howrah via Gaya-Dhanbad trains likely from April

Three shiny new Vande Bharat Express trains will soon boost connectivity for railway passengers in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand. The launch of the flagship train on three intra-state routes will improve the speed of commute for people across the states.

With Railways getting a big boost from Union Budget 2023-24, big things are in store for several big northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Haryana.

The Indian Railways has been allotted the biggest annual budget in history this time by the Centre. Railways got Rs 2.4 lakh crore in Union Budget 2023, a 51% increase from Rs 1.59 crore in 2022-23.

Uttar Pradesh has received the highest ever budget of Rs 17,507 crore. Meanwhile, Rs 8568 crore has been given to East Central Railway from this budget. Out of this, a majority sum of Rs 8505 crore has been allotted to Bihar.

The Railways has said that three new Vande Bharat Express trains will soon be made operational in the area. Two will run from Bihar capital Patna, going to Jharkhand capital Ranchi and connecting to West Bengal till Howrah. Apart from Patna-Ranchi and Patna-Howrah, Railways also plans to start a Vande Bharat Express train on Varanasi-Howrah route. This train will travel via Gaya-Dhanbad. As per information from Railways, these trains can be made operational as soon as April.

The Railways has big plans for Bihar which include modernisation of 87 stations apart from launch of new trains. Currently, the Railways has as many as 57 projects with a combined value of around Rs 74,880 crore ongoing in Bihar.

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(Inputs from PTI)