Puri, May 18: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday flagged off the first Vande Bharat Express train of Odisha through video conferencing.
Odisha Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Minister of Railways Aswini Vaishnav and Education and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan were among the dignitaries present.
PM Modi also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of several transformative projects, including renovation of Cuttack and Puri railway stations on the occasion worth around Rs 8200 crore on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said People of Odisha and West Bengal are getting the gift of Vande Bharat train. Vande Bharat Express is the symbol of modern India and aspirational Indians. When Vande Bharat travels from one place to another place, it represents the pace of progress of India.”
This train, having 16 coaches will run six days a week except Thursdays with seven stoppages.
It will leave Howrah at 6:10 am and arrive in Puri at 12:35 pm. The train will depart from Puri at 1.50 pm and reach Howrah at 8:30 pm.
The train has stoppages at Kharagpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Khurda Road. The train will halt for two minutes only at each station.
