Officials said the Vande Bharat sleeper would cover the Varanasi-Delhi route in around 9.2 hours, compared with about 12 hours taken by the Rajdhani Express. On the Bengaluru-Mumbai route, the new train is expected to take around 15.5 hours.

NEW DELHI: Railways is set to launch two Vande Bharat sleeper train services on the Delhi-Varanasi and Mumbai-Bengaluru routes over the next week, expanding its premium overnight rail network. The Varanasi-Delhi service is scheduled to be inaugurated on Oct 31 (Saturday), while the inaugural run on the Bengaluru-Mumbai route is planned for Nov 1 (Sunday).At present, a Vande Bharat sleeper service operates between Guwahati and Kolkata.

Officials said the Vande Bharat sleeper would cover the Varanasi-Delhi route in around 9.2 hours, compared with about 12 hours taken by the Rajdhani Express. On the Bengaluru-Mumbai route, the new train is expected to take around 15.5 hours, against about 22 hours taken by the CBE-LTT service, currently the fastest sleeper train on the route.The Mumbai-Bengaluru service will connect two major economic centres, catering to business travellers and other passengers travelling between Maharashtra and Karnataka. The Delhi-Varanasi service will link the national capital with one of India’s key religious and tourist destinations, potentially benefiting pilgrims and other travellers.The Delhi-Varanasi service is planned as an overnight train, running via Prayagraj and Kanpur.Railways is looking at introducing more Vande Bharat sleeper trains for overnight journeys.