Bengaluru-Mangaluru Vande Bharat Express Completes Trial Runs on Western Ghats Section

Indian Railways, through the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and South Western Railway (SWR), has completed key technical trial runs for the upcoming Bengaluru-Mangaluru Vande Bharat Express. The field trials took place along the 55-kilometer Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Road ghat section, a terrain in the Western Ghats known for steep gradients, 57 tunnels, 226 bridges, and 108 sharp curves. To navigate the difficult mountain alignment safely without employing conventional banker locomotives, railway authorities deployed a specially configured 20-coach Vande Bharat train set equipped with an Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system. General Manager of South Western Railway P. Ananth, accompanied by Mysuru Divisional Railway Manager Mudit Mittal, inspected the operational test runs and monitored passenger amenity upgrades taking place under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme along the corridor. The AEB technology was thoroughly evaluated to ensure strict speed control on downhill gradients, keeping train movement within the mandated 30 km/h threshold. With the field trial data now under final evaluation by railway safety regulators, passenger associations across coastal Karnataka are awaiting the formal announcement of the timetable and commercial launch date, which is expected to trim travel times between Bengaluru and Mangaluru to approximately eight hours.