Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated five Vande Bharat trains virtually on Tuesday, connecting various cities across the country. The event took place at the Rani Kamalapati railway station in Bhopal, where the Prime Minister gave the green signal to two semi-high-speed trains physically and flagged off the remaining three virtually. The ceremony was attended by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Jyotiraditya Scindia.

With the launch of these five trains, the total number of indigenous semi-high-speed trains operating in the country has reached 23. Earlier this month, Minister Vaishnaw had pledged to connect each state through a Vande Bharat Express train by the end of June, and the remaining states on the list were Goa, Bihar, and Jharkhand.

At the Ranchi railway station, Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan, Union Minister Annapurna Devi, and BJP state president Deepak Prakash were present for a special program marking the flagging off. Similarly, Goa Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, and other dignitaries attended the function at Madgaon railway station in Goa. In Mumbai, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, and other officials welcomed the train.

“These trains will improve connectivity in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Bihar, and Jharkhand,” stated Prime Minister Modi in a tweet. This is the first time that multiple Vande Bharat trains have been launched on a single day. Two of the trains are dedicated to Madhya Pradesh, where Assembly polls are scheduled later this year.

The five semi-high-speed trains launched are as follows: Rani Kamalapati (Bhopal)-Jabalpur Vande Bharat Express, Khajuraho-Bhopal-Indore Vande Bharat Express, Madgaon (Goa)-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express, Dharwad-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express, and Hatia-Patna Vande Bharat Express, according to an official statement.