Railway Board approves Yesvantpur–Madgaon Vande Bharat Express

On 30 October 2026, the Railway Board, India's top railway decision-making body, approved a new Vande Bharat Express between Yesvantpur in Bengaluru and Madgaon in Goa. The service was assigned train numbers 26655 and 26656 for the two directions.

The train was planned to run through Hassan and Sakleshpur in the Western Ghats and on to coastal Karnataka, including Mangaluru, before reaching Goa. The approval also covered two Vande Bharat trainsets, the semi-high-speed electric trains, for the route. It tied into the plan to extend the existing Madgaon–Mangaluru Vande Bharat to Bengaluru, which would end that shorter service as a separate run.

The decision mattered because it promised a much faster rail link between Bengaluru and Goa, with a journey of roughly 13 hours reported. Early reports differed on whether the train would call at Mangaluru's main stations or use a bypass line, and timings in circulation were unofficial. No launch date or fares had been announced at the time of approval.