Vande Bharat at Tirur station | Photo: Pradeep Payyoli
Ernakulam: The Vande Bharat Express successfully completed its maiden trial run on Monday morning, traveling from Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur in 7 hours and 10 minutes. The train departed from Thiruvananthapuram station at 5:10 am and arrived at Kannur at 12:20 pm. The train is scheduled to make its return journey from Kannur at 2:30 pm.
On Monday morning, the train arrived from Kochuveli to Thiruvananthapuram for the trial run. The train was carrying senior railway officials and engineers on board. It departed from Thiruvananthapuram station at 5:10 am and reached Kollam at 6:00 am, just 50 minutes after leaving the state capital.
The train resumed journey and passed Kottayam at 7:25 am, Ernakulam North at 8:30 am and Thrissur at 9:37 am. Two loco pilots joined the crew from Ernakulam.
The train took 4 hours and 20 minutes to reach Thrissur from Thiruvananthapuram. There was a brief halt at Tirur station at 10:45 am and BJP workers and Chamber of Commerce representatives greeted the semi-high-speed train.
By 11:17 am, the train reached Kozhikode, 6 hours and 7 minutes after starting the journey from Thiruvananthapuram. The train finally reached the final destination in Kannur at 12:20 pm.