Indian Railways’ 16th Vande Bharat Express has witnessed spontaneous response from rail passengers since its inception. The semi-high speed train operates between Secunderabad and Tirupati. It was launched on April 08, 2023 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is the second semi-high speed train for the two Telugu-speaking states and also for the South Central Railway (SCR) zone. During its introduction, the new age train was launched with eight coaches. However, after seeing the huge response from commuters, the railways doubled the number of coaches in the train on May 17.
With this, the seating capacity of the train has also increased from 530 to 1128 seats (104 seats in Executive Class and 1024 seats in AC Chair Car). Last month, the national transporter also reduced the transit time of the blue and white colour train in each direction by 15 minutes. The train now covers the journey in both directions in eight hours and 15 minutes, instead of its earlier duration of 8 hrs 30 minutes.
About Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express:-
The Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express runs six days a week except Tuesday. During its journey between the two cities and vice versa, the semi-high speed train stops at Nalgonda, Guntur, Ongole, and Nellore. The train runs through 10 districts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It begins its journey from Secunderabad at 06:00 hrs and reaches the destination at 14:15 hrs.
Significance of 20701/20702 Secunderabad-Tirupati-Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express:-
The Secunderabad–Tirupati Vande Bharat Express train provides a unique opportunity to the travellers to visit the temple of Lord Venkateswara in a faster and more comfortable manner. The new age train has several world-class features like GPS-based Passenger Information System, automatic sliding doors, reclining seats, CCTV cameras in all coaches, diffused LED lighting, charging points beneath every seat etc.