As the second Vande Bharat Express train for Odisha is likely to be flagged off by September-end, its trial run between Puri and Rourkela is scheduled to be conducted on Wednesday (September 20).
As per the trial run schedule, the 20836 Puri-Rourkela Vande Bharat Express will start at 5 am on September 20 from the Puri railway station and reach Rourkela at 12.45 pm. In the return direction, the semi-high-speed train will depart Rourkela at 2.10 pm and arrive at Puri at 9.40 pm.
The train will have 10 stoppages: Puri, Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Angul, Kerejanga, Sambalpur city, Jharsuguda and Rourkela. It will cover 505-km distance in just 7.45 hours at an average speed of 63.33 kmph-65.16 kmph.
The train will reach Khurda Road at 5.42 am, Bhubaneswar at 6.04 am, Cuttack at 6.34 am, Dhenkanal at 7.24 am, Angul at 8.14 am, Sambalpur city at 10.18 am, Jharsuguda at 11.23 am and Rourkela at 12.45 pm on the day of its trial run. It will leave Rourkela at 2.10 pm and reach Jharsuguda at 3.23 pm, Sambalpur city at 4.03 pm, Angul at 6.14 pm, Dhenkanal at 6.54 pm, Cuttack at 7.42 pm, Bhubaneswar at 8.15 pm, Khurda Road at 8.37 pm and Puri at 9.40 pm.
The train will run six days a week except Saturday.
On September 12, the first trial run of the train was conducted from Puri to Talcher.