TN's 2nd inter-city Vande Bharat Express connects Chennai to the southern parts

Chennai, Sep 24 (PTI) One among the nine Vande Bharat services that were flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, the Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai service is the first such train to connect the southern parts with the state capital.

The train will run six days a week-- except Tuesday, and will cover the 653-km distance in 7.50 hours, according to Southern Railway.

From Tirunelveli, it will leave daily at 6 am, while the train will depart from here at 2.50 pm towards the southern city.

The stoppages are Virudhunagar, Madurai, Dindigul, Tiruchirappalli and Villupuram junctions, besides Tambaram, before arriving at Chennai Egmore.

The service is expected to give a boost to tourism in the Tirunelveli-Madurai sector and help professionals, including businessmen.

The first intra-state Vande Bharat service was flagged off by the Prime Minister in April this year, and it runs between the western industrial city of Coimbatore and Chennai, covering about 500 km in 5.50 hours.

Meanwhile, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan travelled in the inaugural service from Tirunelveli to Madurai.

At Madurai, she cut a cake to mark the occasion, and was joined by Tamil Nadu IT Minister P Thiaga Rajan and local MP Su Venkatesan of the CPI(M).

In a post on social media platform X, she said she attended the inaugural of Tirunelveli to Chennai service and travelled along with public from till Madurai.

"Recalled My personnel request to Hon'ble @RailMinIndia Shri.@AshwiniVaishnaw on Jan 15th 2023 in Secunderabad during First #VandeBharatExpress train inauguration by Hon'ble @PMOIndia Shri. @narendramodi Ji in #Telangana to consider my home town Tirunelveli from southern Tamil Nadu for #Vandebharat train services. Thank Hon'ble Shri. @narendramodi ji," she said. PTI SA SA SS