Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off two Vande Bharat trains from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) on Friday. He will also inaugurate a new campus of an educational institute of the Dawoodi Bohra community as well as two elevated road corridors and a vehicular underpass during his visit to the metropolis.

According to the Railway official, PM Modi will first flag off CSMT-Solapur Vande Bharat Express in the afternoon and soon after the second semi-high-speed train linking the financial capital to Sainagar Shirdi, a temple town in Ahmednagar district.

Details of the Mumbai-Solapur Vande Bharat Express

The Mumbai-Solapur Vande Bharat Express will cover the 455-kilometre distance between the country’s commercial capital and the premier textile city in 6 hours and 30 minutes, a saving of nearly one hour in current timings.

The officials said that the Vande Bharat trains will improve connectivity between the two cities and also facilitate travel to important pilgrimage centres like Siddheshwar in Solapur, Akkalkot, Tuljapur, Pandharpur near Solapur and Alandi in Pune district.

The Mumbai-Sainagar Shirdi Vande Bharat Express will take 5 hours and 25 minutes to cover the 343-kilometre journey to one of India’s most patronised temple towns as well as other pilgrimage centres in Nashik, Trimbakeshwar and Shani Singapur, reducing the current time by around two hours. Ahead of its inauguration, the number of Vande Bharat Express trains running from Mumbai will increase to three, with Maharashtra also being the first state to have two intra-state Vande Bharat services.

Moreover, the official said that Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, his deputy Devendra Fadnavis and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, among other dignitaries, will be present at the CSMT function.

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PM Modi to inaugurate new campus of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah & Elevated roads

Later in the day, Modi will inaugurate a new campus of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah (The Saifee Academy), the principal educational institute of the Dawoodi Bohra community, at Marol in suburban Andheri and dedicate infrastructure projects to the nation, the official added. Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah is working to protect the learning traditions and literary culture of the community.

The prime minister will also inaugurate Vakola-Kurla and MTNL-LBS (Lal Bahadur Shastri) elevated corridor arms on Santacruz-Chembur Link Road, a key east-west corridor in the city, and a vehicular underpass at Kurar in the northern suburb of Malad. These arms connect the Western Express Highway to the Eastern Express Highway.