South Coast Railway Clarifies On Viral Vande Bharat Sleeper Claims

The South Coast Railway (SCoR) has officially clarified that there is currently no approved proposal for a Vande Bharat Sleeper train service between Visakhapatnam and Bengaluru. This statement follows a series of viral social media posts claiming that the high-speed sleeper service was set for an imminent launch. Railway officials noted that while route feasibility is often under internal review, no final schedule, rake allocation, or operational timeline has been authorized for this specific corridor.

The misinformation spread rapidly across platforms like X and WhatsApp, with users sharing fabricated timetables and fare structures for the purported overnight journey. Such viral claims often create confusion among regular passengers and increase administrative pressure on local railway offices. The Vande Bharat Sleeper project remains a flagship initiative of Indian Railways, but deployment is being managed in a phased manner, prioritizing high-traffic national routes over regional speculations.

Visakhapatnam is currently served by existing Vande Bharat chair-car services connecting it to cities like Vijayawada and Secunderabad. The Ministry of Railways is presently focusing on completing rigorous trial runs for the new sleeper variant before it is introduced for commercial long-distance routes. Passengers are advised to rely exclusively on official notifications from the Ministry of Railways or the IRCTC portal for all ticketing and new service announcements. The SCoR has urged the public to refrain from sharing unverified transit schedules.