20 coaches, 6 days a week, 8 PM departure: Inside the proposed Bengaluru-Vizag Vande Bharat Sleeper

While travellers await the proposed Mumbai-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Sleeper, South Coast Railway (SCoR) has formally proposed an overnight Vande Bharat Sleeper service between KSR Bengaluru and Visakhapatnam — pending Railway Board approval.

SCoR's chief traffic planning manager has suggested running the service six days a week. Notably, the proposal involves two 20-coach rakes — larger than the 16-coach rake currently used in India's only active Vande Bharat Sleeper running between Kolkata and Guwahati.

From Bengaluru, the service is intended to depart at 8:00 PM — reaching Visakhapatnam by 10:00 AM the next day. The return from Vizag would depart at 8:15 PM and terminate in Bengaluru by 10:00 AM. The service would run all days except Tuesdays from Bengaluru and Mondays from Vizag.

The train is expected to halt at Dharmavaram, Nandyal, Krishna Canal Junction and Duvvada in both directions — serving the massive Andhra Pradesh diaspora working and studying in Bengaluru across the 1,061-km route.

Currently, trains take 17 to 21 hours to complete the Bengaluru-Vizag journey. The Vande Bharat Sleeper could bring this down to under 15 hours — though the proposed average speed is only around 75 kmph due to existing track infrastructure limitations, well below the train's design speed of 180 kmph.

SCoR has already informed South Western Railway, which handles Bengaluru, and South Central Railway, which covers parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The proposal is now awaiting final Railway Board approval before any announcement can be made official.