Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Mumbai again on February 10, for the opening of the Dawoodi Bohra community’s Arabic Academy in Andheri East, as per sources. He is expected to share the dais with his Holiness Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin. During his visit to Mumbai, he is also expected to flag off two Vande Bharat express trains from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus(CSMT) station for Shirdi and Solapur routes. However, an official confirmation about the Prime Minister flagging off Vande Bharat express train is yet to be received, said Railway officials on Sunday.
This will be PM Modi’s second visit to Mumbai within a month. On January 19, Modi was in the state capital to lay foundation stones for a slew of projects and also inaugurated the new Mumbai Metro Lines 2A and 7.
As per the February 10 PM visit schedule, he will arrive in Mumbai and may travel to the CSMT station and may flag off the Vande Bharat Express trains for Shirdi and Solapur from platform number 18.
During the inauguration, he will inspect the Vande Bharat express train and also interact with children in the first coach and the crew. Railway officials will present the Prime Minister with a memento.
The Vande Bharat express train is expected to enhance connectivity between CSMT and Solapur and Shirdi. The travel time between CSMT and Solapur will be cut short by one hour and 30 minutes. For Shirdi, there will be no change in travel time as a single line section begins between Nashik and Manmad and the route also has a ghat section, explained a Railway official.
So far across the country eight Vande Bharat express trains have been introduced on various routes including on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Initially, Vande Bharat 1.0 version train was introduced but now all trains that are being introduced are of advance 2.0 version, as per the Railways.