Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off Goa's first Vande Bharat Express from Madgaon railway station on Saturday. PM Modi will join the flagging off ceremony through video conferencing.

The state-of-the-art Vande Bharat Express will improve the connectivity in the Mumbai - Goa route and provide the people of the region the means to travel with speed and comfort. The train will be the 19th Vande Bharat train to run in the country.

The train will run between Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Goa's Madgaon Station.

It will cover the journey in approximately seven and a half hours, saving about one hour of journey time, compared with the fastest train connecting the two places.

The indigenously made train, equipped with world-class amenities and advanced safety features including KAVACH technology, will boost tourism in both states.
Indian Railways launched India's first indigenous semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express.

The first Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off on February 15, 2019, on the New Delhi Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route.

The Vande Bharat Express can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph.

In his address to the nation on August 15, 2021, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi announced that during the 75 weeks of the Amrit Mahotsav of Independence, 75 Vande Bharat trains will connect every corner of the country.

In the Union Budget 2022-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that four
hundred new-generation Vande Bharat Trains will be manufactured during the next three years. (ANI)