Thiruvananthapuram | The Central Government has sanctioned a new Vande Bharat train from Ernakulam to Bengaluru via Thrissur and Palakkad, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday.

The service is expected to begin by mid-November, he said in a Facebook post, expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

He said Bengaluru is a city where a large number of Keralites, including those in the IT sector, are employed.

For a long time, there has been a demand for more trains from Kerala to Bengaluru, Chandrasekhar noted.

"Thank You, Modi! Gratitude to the Central Government for sanctioning a Vande Bharat train from Ernakulam to Bengaluru via Thrissur and Palakkad," he wrote.

Chandrasekhar said the demand for more trains on the route had been longstanding and pointed out that he had raised the issue with the railway minister a month ago.

"We express our thanks to him for taking a favourable decision so quickly," he added.

The former Union minister said the new service would be "a great relief to Keralites in Bengaluru" and once again thanked the Centre for a decision taken "keeping in mind the overall development of Kerala."