The Vande Bharat Express connecting Lucknow and Saharanpur via Sitapur will begin its regular service from December 9, with the Ministry of Railways approving changes to its schedule following objections from Western Uttar Pradesh leaders.
Public representatives, including the Saharanpur MP, had appealed to the Railway Minister to revise the departure time, arguing that the earlier schedule was inconvenient for passengers in the region.
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Acting on these demands, Indian Railways has issued a revised timetable, under which the Vande Bharat Express will now start its journey from Saharanpur at 5:05 AM, reaching Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar station at 2:05 PM. The return journey will begin from Gomti Nagar at 3:10 PM, with the train arriving in Saharanpur at 11:50 PM. The service will operate six days a week, excluding Monday.
The train will run via Roorkee, Najibabad, Moradabad, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Sitapur City, Sitapur Junction, and Daliganj, providing Sitapur its first-ever Vande Bharat connectivity and improving access to Naimish Dham.
The 526-km journey will be completed in 7 hours and 45 minutes. Train number 26503 will operate the Saharanpur-Lucknow route, while 26504 will run in the opposite direction.
The earlier service, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 November, had faced objections over its timetable, prompting the Railways to relaunch it with revised arrangements.