Belagavi residents are dismayed by the ongoing delay in extending the Vande Bharat Express service to their city, despite successful trial runs. Currently, the high-speed train operates between Bengaluru and Dharwad, but the South Western Railway has postponed plans to extend the service to Belagavi.
A new development has surprised Belagavi’s residents and politicians: a circular has announced the launch of a Vande Bharat Express service between Pune and Hubballi (570 km), which will pass through Belagavi. This raises the question of why the Bengaluru-Dharwad Vande Bharat service cannot be extended to Belagavi, given that a train can travel from Pune to Hubballi via Belagavi.
The estimated travel time between Dharwad and Belagavi is about 1 hour and 40 minutes in each direction, indicating that extending the existing Bengaluru-Dharwad Vande Bharat service to Belagavi should be feasible without major modifications. Nevertheless, the South Western Railway (SWR) seems hesitant to implement this extension.
The Railway Board has set a travel time of 7 hours and 45 minutes for the Bengaluru-Belagavi route, whereas the Pune-Hubballi Vande Bharat service takes 8 hours and 30 minutes. This raises concerns about the apparent lack of priority for the Belagavi extension, especially when longer routes are in operation.
In response, Belagavi Rajya Sabha MP Iranna Kadadi has supported the Pune-Hubballi Vande Bharat train and plans to meet with the Railway Minister to discuss extending the Bengaluru-Dharwad service to Belagavi. He also aims to advocate for the introduction of a Sleeper Vande Bharat Express on the Bengaluru-Belagavi route.
