Bengaluru, April 25: Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday visited the BEML Tippasandra Campus in Bengaluru and inaugurated Aditya, a specialised complex dedicated to the manufacturing of high-speed rail, marking a significant milestone for indigenous engineering.

The newly inaugurated Aditya complex is currently designed for the development of B-28 coaches.

Vaishnaw highlighted the transformative power of high-speed rail, stating that the advent of these trains will cause major cities to be seen as extensions of one another. He cited the example of the travel time between Chennai and Bengaluru which is expected to drop to just 73 minutes, effectively making the two cities part of a single integrated hub.

He also announced new train services connecting Bengaluru and Mumbai. "Simultaneously, we are starting two new services to Mumbai. One service is a superfast service from Bangalore via Hubli Dharwad, and the second is a Vande Bharat sleeper service, which will be Bengaluru to Mumbai. So, these two services will again start in a couple of months from now," he said.

On regional connectivity, the Minister confirmed that the Vande Bharat service between Mangaluru and Bengaluru will be launched very soon He emphasized that the planning for this service has duly taken into consideration the linking of Madgaon and other coastal cities of Karnataka prior to implementation.

“Technical hurdles have been cleared, including the completion of electrification on the Hassan-Mangaluru section and the integration of Automated Emergency Braking (AEB) systems for safety on steep coastal gradients,” said Vaishnaw.