BENGALURU The Railway Board has approved a new Yesvantpur-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express operating via Hassan and Mangaluru Junction, establishing a premium rail link between Karnataka's capital and Goa. The service, numbered 26655/26656, was approved on October 30, 2026, and will operate six days a week, except Wednesdays for the down service and Thursdays for the up service.
Train 26655 departs Yesvantpur at 7:35 AM and reaches Madgaon at 8:55 PM the same day, covering 670 km in approximately 13 hours at an average speed of 50 kmph. The return service, 26656, departs Madgaon at 8:20 AM and arrives at Yesvantpur at 9:15 PM, completing the journey in 12 hours and 55 minutes at an average speed of 51 kmph.
The new service includes 12 commercial halts at Shravanabelagola, Hassan, Sakleshpur, Subrahmanya Road, Kabaka Puttur, Mangaluru Junction, Udupi, Kundapura, Mookambika Road Byndoor, Murdeshwar, Gokarna Road and Karwar. Notably, the train passes Thokur without a halt. The existing Madgaon-Mangaluru Central Vande Bharat Express (20645/20646) has been discontinued to accommodate this reconfiguration.
The service requires two Vande Bharat rakes, with primary maintenance undertaken at Yesvantpur in Bengaluru and routine daily maintenance carried out at Madgaon. Coach watering will be undertaken at Mangaluru Junction. Railways have stopped advance reservation for the Mangaluru-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express with effect from November 28, 2026.
The development comes days after Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Kota Srinivas Poojary met Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in New Delhi seeking early introduction of the coastal Vande Bharat service. The October 30 circular follows the minister's announcement that he would flag off the service in Mangaluru before the third week of November 2026. Timing changes were also approved for several other trains on the corridor, including the Karwar-Yesvantpur Express and various Mangaluru-Jyesvantpur Express services.
