Bengaluru: More than one month after the Railway Board notified a new bi-weekly train between Mumbai and Bengaluru, the service is yet to begin operations.Despite the notification stating the train will be introduced at the “earliest convenient date”, there has been no progress on the ground. The railway ministry approved the long-awaited service on Dec 9, 2025, in response to passenger demand for better connectivity between the two major metro cities. However, the proposed service between Bengaluru’s SMVT and Mumbai’s Lokmanya Tilak stations has already attracted significant criticism. For over two decades, passengers depended on Udyaan Express, which takes over 20 hours to cover the 1,153-km route. Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s announcement in Sept last year about a “superfast” train between the two cities led to an increase in expectations. However, the new SMVT Bengaluru-Lokmanya Tilak Express is scheduled to take close to 24 hours – four hours slower than Udyaan Express – disappointing regular travellers, who were expecting a faster daily service rather than a bi-weekly one. Amid reports that the train might be shelved due to public opposition, railway officials insisted the service will be introduced once timetables between zones are sorted out. “The train is running through two zones, south-western and central. Within our jurisdiction, we cleared the timetable, but it is yet to be done by Central Railway. Only once they finalise, can it be introduced commercially,” a South Western Railway (SWR) official told TOI. SWR sources indicated a Vande Bharat Sleeper Express on the same route is a strong possibility this year.
