Hyderabad: Call it Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gift for Telangana and Maharashtra on the occasion of Ganesh Navrathri, or a reassertion of Operation Polo, a new Vande Bharat semi-high speed train will be formally launched from Nagpur to Hyderabad on September 16, just a day before Telangana observes September 17, the date when the erstwhile state of Hyderabad was annexed to India in 1948.
The route becomes significant, as it starts from the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Nagpur, and ends in Hyderabad, the city of Ganga-Jamuna Tehzeeb as observed by former prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
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The train will be covering a distance of 578 km from Nagpur to Hyderabad in 7.15 hours, with stops at Sevagram, Balharshah, Chandrapur, Ramagundam, Kazipet and Secunderabad.
Union minister for coal and mines G Kishan Reddy will be welcoming the train at Secunderabad Railway Station at 12.15 pm on September 16. Prime Minister Modi will be formally flagging it off virtually on the occasion.