Three Vande Bharat Express Trains to Udaipur Failed to Achieve Traffic; Fourth one is the Best Bet So Far

Gandhinagar: Udaipur has already seen two Vande Bharat Express services discontinued — those connecting the city with Agra and Jaipur — and the Asarva-Udaipur Vande Bharat has also faced challenges in attracting sustained occupancy. The Agra and Jaipur services were the only Vande Bharat services to be discontinued amid inadequate occupancy, with factors such as journey time comparable to road travel, daytime-only operations and relatively high fares cited as challenges. The Asarva-Udaipur service has faced similar issues, raising questions about the viability of the route.

Now yet another Vande Bharat Express has been started linking Udaipur. It is Surat – Udaipur Vande Bharat which is going to run from 3rd October regularly, six days a week. This can be considered the best bet for Vande Bharat connectivity to Udaipur so far.

The government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi post-2014 converted the Ahmedabad-Udaipur railway line to broad gauge. The next step was its electrification. Further logical step was to run a proper train on this route. The Vande Bharat Express was started from Asarva in Ahmedabad to Udaipur.

The timings of the Vande Bharat were kept in view of attracting tourists from Udaipur to Gujarat. So, the timings were not suitable for an Ahmedabad-to-Udaipur journey; rather, they were more favourable for an Udaipur-to-Ahmedabad journey, as the idea was to attract the tourists from Golden Triangle (Delhi – Agra – Jaipur) to Udaipur and then to Gujarat. In other words, the timings were friendly to the lower-population-end city rather than the higher-population-end city.

However desired traffic of toursts could not be achieved from Udaipur towards Gujarat. In fact we in our article and podcast suggested that the timings should be suitable for Amdavadis to reach Udaipur at hotel check-in timings. Amdavadis visit Udaipur and broader region of Mewad for tourism, pilgrimage and liesure and they would like to arrive in Udaipur around hotel check-in time. However in the case of Asarva – Udaipur train, the arrival time was kept in the night. There were also other problems with the Ahmedabad-Udaipur train. The station chosen for Ahmedabad travellers was Asarva and not Kalupur or Maninagar. Asarva is not a convenient Ahmedabad railway station.

The other problem was that, barring the tourist season, weekends and public holidays, occupancy would remain low. One more problem was that the Vande Bharat would take almost the same time as the road journey on this route. Because of the hilly and curved route on the Rajasthan side, the train cannot be sped up and would run at around 70 km/hour speed, instead of desired 130 km/hr. With the new highway and flyovers, the road journey has become safer and faster on this route and takes similar time. So there is no advantage in terms of journey time.

One more negative was the price. If you are a family or a group and want to go to Udaipur, a car would be a cheaper and more convenient option than the Vande Bharat, whose ticket rates are on the higher side. Your own vehicle also facilitates your journey to resorts such as Ananta around Udaipur, or to popular pilgrimage places such as Eklingji and Shrinathji. The Vande Bharat, at the same cost or more, would only take you from railway station to railway station. If you count the cab fare from your home to Ahmedabad’s railway station and then from Udaipur railway station to your destination, such as a hotel, resort or pilgrimage place, a road journey in your own vehicle would prove even cheaper than the Vande Bharat. So, due to all these reasons, the Asarva-Udaipur train also received a less-than-enthusiastic response.

Udaipur had previously had Vande Bharat Express trains connecting it to Agra and Jaipur as well. But both had to be discontinued. In fact, in the history of Vande Bharat Express trains, these were the only two that had to be discontinued due to lack of viable occupancy. The same factors — journey duration similar to the road journey, odd timings (Vande Bharat can run only during the day and not at night), and high ticket prices — were considered responsible.

Now, the only logical step to make Udaipur a Vande Bharat-connected city is going to be implemented from October 3. Udaipur will be connected to three cities that have the capacity to spend on travel: Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat. The timings will be favourable for incoming tourists from Gujarat (across all three major cities and other halts) and will match hotel check-in times in Udaipur. So, the timing issue is sorted out.

The journey time will be the same for Ahmedabad-Udaipur travellers, but it will be shorter for tourists from Vadodara and Surat when compared to the road journey. The cost will remain the same or be higher for Ahmedabad tourists compared to a road journey, but it will be more beneficial for travellers from Surat and Vadodara.

While this Vande Bharat is likely to get significant traffic on the Surat-Ahmedabad route — with the train covering Bharuch for the first time — it has to be seen how the Ahmedabad-Udaipur traffic works for it. If it fails to work even now, Udaipur may lose another Vande Bharat connectivity in the future. Even with low traffic on the Udaipur leg, the Surat-Ahmedabad route will perhaps be able to cross-subsidise the losses on the Ahmedabad-Udaipur route.