Key Facts

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw flagged off the Bengaluru-Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper Express at Bengaluru on 1 November 2026. The overnight train runs six days a week, leaving Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal at 7.45 p.m. and reaching Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus at 11.55 a.m. the next day, and a Bengaluru-Pune sleeper via Hubballi will follow. The minister also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved bullet-train services over about 4,000 km across the country, with Chennai among the cities in the plan.

GK Context

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail corridor, about 508 km long, is being built by the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) with Japanese technical and financial assistance based on the Shinkansen system. Vande Bharat trains are indigenously designed semi-high-speed trains built by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai. Sir M. Visvesvaraya, after whom the Bengaluru terminal is named, was an engineer, the Diwan of Mysore and a Bharat Ratna awardee (1955).