A 20-car Vande Bharat rake fitted with Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, seen stabled at Pandavapura Railway Station ahead of South Western Railway’s Mysuru Division commencing the trial run of VB Express on the Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Road Ghat section on August 5, 2026.
| Photo Credit: M A SRIRAM
The stage is set for the introduction of the much-hyped Vande Bharat Express connecting Bengaluru with coastal Karnataka, with South Western Railway’s Mysuru Division gearing up to conduct trial runs from August 11.While Minister of State for Railways V. Somanna had earlier announced that the VB Express would be introduced on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru sector by June, the same did not materialise for want of a VB rake fitted with Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system.Now that the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, has supplied a 20-car VB rake fitted with AEB to Mysuru Division, the decks are cleared for its trial run and subsequent authorisation for commercial operation. The rake is presently stabled at Pandavapura Railway Station in Mandya district.The trial run starting from August 11, would go on till August 22. A team from the Research, Design and Safety Organisation (RDSO) of the Indian Railways would arrive to conduct the runs shortly, Divisional Railway Manager Mudit Mittal told The Hindu on Wednesday (August 5, 2026).
