Vande Bharat Express
– Photo: Amar Ujala
Expansion
Vande Bharat Express, the semi-high speed train started between Prayagraj to Lucknow via Gorakhpur, may be equipped with facilities, but due to the expensive fare, many of its seats are remaining vacant every day. Ever since it started operating, 50 percent seats have not been filled on any day. Holi is on 25th March. In such a situation, where there is a long waiting list in all the important trains before the festival, even on Sunday, a day before Holi, more than 100 seats remained vacant in the AC chair car of Vande Bharat.
After the expansion of Vande Bharat, running between Gorakhpur to Lucknow, to Prayagraj, PM Modi had flagged it off virtually from Ahmedabad on March 12. Then Vande Bharat Express ran from Prayagraj to Lucknow as a special train. However, the official operation of the train started from March 14. Vande Bharat Express, which runs six days a week except Saturdays, has not been fully loaded from Prayagraj even on a single day.
On the very first day itself, 403 out of 530 seats in the train remained vacant. Even after this, till now Vande Bharat has not been able to fill 50 percent of the seats from here even on a single day. The special thing is that even on Holi, many seats are still vacant in Vande Bharat, while there are long waiting lists in other trains. It is believed that due to expensive fares, passengers are avoiding traveling in Vande Bharat.