The 20633/20634 Kasaragod - Thiruvananthapuram Central ''Vande Bharat Express'' is India's 15th

Vande Bharat Express Vande Bharat Express is a medium to long-distance Higher-speed rail (Indian English: Semi-High Speed) Express trains in India#Superfast, Express train service. It is a Indian Railways#Ticketing and fares, reserved, air-conditioned chair car se ...

train, connecting

Kasaragod Kasaragod () is a municipal town and the administrative headquarters of the Kasaragod district in the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1966, Kasaragod was the first municipal town in the district. It is the northernmost district of Kera ...

with state capital

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. The train service was officially inaugurated on 25 April 2023 by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

Thiruvananthapuram Central Thiruvananthapuram Central (station code: TVC,) is an NSG–2 category railway station in Thiruvananthapuram railway division of Southern Railway zone. It is a major railway station that serves the city of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of ...

. As of July 2023, it is the best-performing Vande Bharat Express train service with an average occupancy of 183 per cent, according to official data.

Overview

This train is operated by

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

, connecting

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the maj ...

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

, Shoranur Junction,

Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Ke ...

Ernakulam Town Ernakulam Town (also known as Ernakulam North) (station code: ERN) is an NSG–3 category Indian railway station in Thiruvananthapuram railway division of Southern Railway zone. It is a railway station in the city of Kochi, Kerala. It is th ...

Kottayam Kottayam () is a city in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is the district headquarters of the district and is located about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 Indian census, Kottayam has a population of ...

Chengannur Chengannur () is a Municipalities of Kerala, municipalityhttps://lsgkerala.gov.in/system/files/2017-10/localbodies.pdf in the Alappuzha district of Kerala, India. It is located south east of the district headquarters in Alappuzha and about ...

Kollam Junction Kollam Junction railway station (station code: QLN) is an NSG–2 category Indian railway station in Thiruvananthapuram railway division of Southern Railway zone.) It is a junction station situated in the city of Kollam in Kerala, India. It ...

and

. This is the first Vande Bharat Express train for Kerala and the third Vande Bharat Express train for Southern Railways. It is operated with train numbers 20633/20634 on 6 days a week basis.

Rakes

It was the thirteenth 2nd Generation Vande Bharat Express train which was designed and manufactured by the

Integral Coach Factory Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is an Indian manufacturer of rolling stock, and electrical multiple units. Established in 1955, it is located in Perambur in Chennai and is the largest rail coach manufacturer in the world. It is owned and operated ...

(ICF) under the leadership of ''Sudhanshu Mani'' at

Perambur Perambur is a neighbourhood located in the northern region of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Etymology In Tamil language, Tamil, ''pirambu (பிரம்பு)'' means bamboo, and ''oor (ஊர்)'' means city or place. Before British Raj, B ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

under the

Make in India is an initiative by the Government of India to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture and assemble products in India and incentivize dedicated investments into manufacturing. The policy approach was to create a conducive envi ...

initiative. As per latest updates, the current running rake would be converted to 20-car rake as this would benefit the passengers heading towards the capital city of

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the largest and ...

and other key stations like

and

Kollam Kollam (;), is an ancient seaport and the List of cities and towns in Kerala, fourth largest city in the Indian state of Kerala. Located on the southern tip of the Malabar Coast of the Arabian Sea, the city is on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake ...

. This conversion of 16 coaches to 20 coaches commenced on 10 January 2025, starting from

Trivandrum Central Thiruvananthapuram Central (station code: TVC,) is an NSG–2 category railway station in Thiruvananthapuram railway division of Southern Railway zone. It is a major railway station that serves the city of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of ...

railway station. This is the in the

services after New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat Express and Varanasi-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express.

Service

The 20633/20634 Kasaragod - Thiruvananthapuram Central Vande Bharat Express operates 6 days a week, covering a distance of in a travel time of 8hrs 05mins with an average speed of . The Maximum Permissible Speed is .

Incidents

Just a few days after the commercial run of this Vande Bharat Express train, an unidentified man pelted stones on this express train on Monday, 1 May 2023. This incident occurred near the

Tirur railway station Tirur railway station (station code: TIR) is an NSG–3 category Indian railway station in Palakkad railway division of Southern Railway zone. It is the oldest railway station in Kerala. It is a major railway station serving the town of Tirur i ...

in the

Malappuram district Malappuram (), is one of the List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala, with a coastline of . The most populous district of Kerala, Malappuram is home to around 13% of the tot ...

in Kerala around 5pm. Despite the crack, this train continued the journey and halted at the

Shoranur Junction railway station Shoranur Junction (station code: SRR) is an NSG–3 category Indian railway station in Palakkad railway division of Southern Railway zone. It is the railway station located at Shoranur, Palakkad District, Kerala. It comes under the Palakkad Ra ...

. Once on arrival, the railway protection force inspected the cracks to find out this issue. Luckily no casualties were reported during this incident. On 4 December 2024, the train returning from Kasaragod to Trivandrum faced an engine failure and was held up at the Shoranur Junction. As a result, the train was delayed for an hour.

Notes

References