Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat augmented with four additional coaches

Vijayawada: The Vande Bharat Express operating between Secunderabad and Tirupati has been permanently upgraded with four additional coaches to meet rising passenger demand, the South Central Railway (SCR) said on Monday.

Beginning November 26, Train No. 20701 (Secunderabad–Tirupati) and Train No. 20702 (Tirupati–Secunderabad) will run with four extra air-conditioned chair car coaches, increasing the total count in this category from 14 to 18.

"The Secunderabad-Tirupati-Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express has been permanently augmented with additional coaches," the Vijayawada Division of SCR noted in an official release issued late on Monday.

There will be no revisions to the executive class coaches, which remain at two, taking the overall number of coaches on the train from 16 to 20, the release added. 

In a separate development, two first-year nursing students were killed after they were allegedly run over by a Vande Bharat Express train on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Monday.

The deceased students, Sterlin Eliza Shaji (19) and Justin Joseph (20), both natives of Kerala, were pursuing BSc Nursing at a private institute in the city, they said.

According to police, the incident occurred at around 2.35 pm on Sunday when the two were allegedly crossing the tracks near the Chikkabanavara railway station, on their way to their paying guest accommodation nearby.

Hit by the Belagavi-bound Vande Bharat train from Bengaluru, both died on the spot. Their bodies were found in a severely dismembered state on the tracks, police said. (PTI)