Gorakhpur – Patna (Patliputra) Vande Bharat Express (26502 / 26501)

Timetable last checked 12 November 2026 (data from 11 November 2026). Fares checked 13 November 2026.

Train summary

Which Patna station? This Vande Bharat train does not use Patna Jn. It starts and ends at Patliputra (PPTA), on the north side of Patna near the Ganga. The reason is the route: the train runs north to Hajipur, Muzaffarpur and the Champaran districts, and the line from Patliputra crosses the river on the Digha–Sonpur rail-cum-road bridge, about 4.5 km long, which opened to commercial traffic in January 2016. Source: Indian Infrastructure On this train, Hajipur Jn is only 21 km and about 36 minutes from Patliputra. When you search IRCTC, choose “Patliputra (PPTA)”, not “Patna Jn (PNBE)”, or the train will not appear.

Boarding in Gorakhpur: the train starts at Gorakhpur Jn. Kaptanganj Jn, 40 km out, is the only other stop in Uttar Pradesh. Every stop after that is in Bihar.

What kind of train this is

The Patliputra–Gorakhpur Vande Bharat Express is a daytime Chair Car train with reclining seats and no berths. CC has 3+2 seating and EC has wider 2+2 seats. See CC vs EC and the seat guide for layouts and window seats.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Patliputra–Gorakhpur Vande Bharat virtually from Siwan on 20 June 2025, and the inaugural run left Patliputra that afternoon. It was reported as the 71st Vande Bharat train in the country, and the Railway Ministry said it would cut travel time between Patliputra and Gorakhpur by at least two hours. Source: The Week (PTI)

Some reports published before the launch said the trip would take under five hours and put the distance at about 396 km. Source: DNA India The working timetable is 7 hours over 384 km, as in the tables below, so go by these times rather than older articles.

The slowest Chair Car Vande Bharat by average speed

Over 384 km in 7 h 5 min, 26502 averages about 54 km/h, and 26501 about 55 km/h. In our timetable data for all 164 Chair Car Vande Bharat trains, these two have the lowest average speeds, just below the Jogbani–Danapur pair (26301/26302) at about 55.3 km/h. The route is a long, curving line across north Bihar with eight stops, and some sections are run slowly in the timetable: 26501 takes 1 h 23 min for the 69 km from Bagaha to Kaptanganj, and 26502 is given an hour for the last 20 km from Hajipur into Patliputra. For comparison with other routes, see Vande Bharat speed and the fastest routes.

26502 Gorakhpur to Patliputra timetable

26501 Patliputra to Gorakhpur timetable

All stops are on the same day. Muzaffarpur has a 5-minute halt; every other stop is 2 minutes, so be at the door with your luggage before the train pulls in. For live running status, use NTES with train number 26501 or 26502.

Gorakhpur Patna Vande Bharat boarding guide: every stop

Every stop below is a boarding and alighting point, and IRCTC sells tickets between any two of them. Times are scheduled; check live running on NTES on the day. Times for 26502 come first.

• Kaptanganj Jn (CPJ). 26502 arrives at 06:24 and leaves at 06:26, 44 min and 40 km out of Gorakhpur, with 6 h 19 min still to go to Patliputra. In the other direction, 26501 calls here at 21:38.
• Bagaha (BUG). 26502 arrives at 07:30, 1 h 50 min and 109 km out of Gorakhpur. It is the first stop in Bihar. 26501 calls here at 20:13.
• Narkatiaganj Jn (NKE). 26502 arrives at 08:08, 2 h 28 min and 151 km out, with 4 h 35 min to go. 26501 calls here at 19:35.
• Bettiah (BTH). 26502 arrives at 08:36, 2 h 56 min and 187 km out. 26501 calls here at 18:51.
• Sagauli Jn (SGL). 26502 arrives at 08:54, 3 h 14 min and 209 km out. 26501 calls here at 18:33.
• Bapudham Motihari (BMKI). 26502 arrives at 09:18 and leaves at 09:20, 3 h 38 min and 231 km out, with 3 h 25 min still to go. 26501 calls here at 18:13.
• Muzaffarpur Jn (MFP). 26502 arrives at 10:45 and leaves at 10:50, 5 h 5 min and 310 km out, with 1 h 55 min and 74 km still to go to Patliputra. 26501 calls here at 17:00, 1 h 30 min after leaving Patliputra.
• Hajipur Jn (HJP). 26502 arrives at 11:43 and leaves at 11:45, with an hour to go to Patliputra. 26501 calls here at 16:06, only 36 min out of Patliputra.

To board at an intermediate station, search from that station on IRCTC, or change the boarding point of an existing e-ticket once, up to the final chart. See the ticket change guide.

Vande Bharat Gorakhpur to Muzaffarpur

Gorakhpur to Muzaffarpur on 26502 takes 5 h 5 min (05:40 to 10:45), and Muzaffarpur to Gorakhpur on 26501 takes 5 h 25 min (17:05 to 22:30). Patna to Muzaffarpur by this Vande Bharat Express is 1 h 30 min on 26501, and Muzaffarpur to Patliputra is 1 h 55 min on 26502.

Can you go and return the same day by Vande Bharat?

• From Gorakhpur: take 26502, which reaches Patliputra at 12:45, and come back on 26501 at 15:30. That leaves 2 h 45 min in Patna, enough for one meeting near Patliputra but tight for anything across the city. Muzaffarpur works better as a day trip: arrive 10:45, leave 17:05, which gives 6 h 20 min there.
• From Patna: not on this train. 26501 reaches Gorakhpur at 22:30, and the next 26502 leaves Gorakhpur at 05:40 the following morning, so you would spend the night in Gorakhpur.

Neither train runs on Saturday. A Friday afternoon trip from Patliputra to Gorakhpur therefore has no Vande Bharat back on Saturday morning; the next 26502 is on Sunday. Leave a buffer in case the morning train runs late. The same-day return planner checks this for any pair of stations, and the running days checker confirms a date.

Gorakhpur to Patna Vande Bharat ticket price

Fares are for one adult, General quota, with the meal, checked 13 November 2026. They come from erail.in’s IRCTC fare data, and we kept a figure only where it agreed with erail’s own fare calculation, so confirm on IRCTC before you pay. A dash means we could not confirm that fare: for 26501 from Patliputra to Gorakhpur, check IRCTC. The base fare is the same in both directions for the same distance and class, but the meal served on each train can differ, so do not assume 26501 costs exactly the same. Fares from or to intermediate stations such as Muzaffarpur or Bettiah are lower than the full trip.

The fare is built from a base fare (1.4 times Shatabdi in CC and 1.3 times in EC), reservation and superfast charges, GST and the optional meal. Source: PIB There is no dynamic fare, so the price does not rise as seats fill up. Source: PIB, February 2026 Choosing No Food when booking lowers the price by the meal charge; the food guide covers what is served. See how Vande Bharat ticket prices work or estimate a station pair with the fare calculator.

CC or EC? On 26502, EC costs ₹935 more than CC for the full trip. For seven hours in the seat, the extra legroom of EC matters more than on a short run, and EC is worth checking first when CC is waitlisted.

Booking the Gorakhpur Patna Vande Bharat train

Booking for 26501 and 26502 opens on IRCTC 60 days before the journey, at 08:00 IST, not counting the journey day. For a journey on Tuesday 12 January 2027, booking opens on Friday 13 November 2026 at 08:00. Do not pick a Saturday: the train does not run, and IRCTC will not show it. Find the opening date for your trip with the booking date calculator.

If CC is full, look at EC before taking a waiting-list ticket. A ticket still waitlisted when the chart is made is cancelled and refunded automatically, less ₹60 clerkage plus GST (₹63) per passenger.

Tatkal opens at 10:00 IST the day before the train leaves its first station: the day before at Gorakhpur for 26502, and the day before at Patliputra for 26501. A confirmed Tatkal ticket gets no refund if you cancel. See the Tatkal guide.

The booking guide covers IRCTC step by step, including quotas, waiting lists and how to choose a seat.

Refund if you cancel a Gorakhpur Patna Vande Bharat ticket

The refund bands are counted from the train’s scheduled departure at its first station, so a passenger boarding 26502 at Muzaffarpur still works from the 05:40 departure from Gorakhpur. For a confirmed ticket, per passenger, with 5% GST on the charge, using the 72, 24 and 8-hour bands the Ministry of Railways announced in March 2026:

• 26502 in CC (₹1,075): cancel more than 72 hours before and you get back about ₹886; 72 to 24 hours before, about ₹793; 24 to 8 hours before, about ₹511; less than 8 hours before, nothing.
• 26502 in EC (₹2,010): more than 72 hours before, about ₹1,758; 72 to 24 hours, about ₹1,482; 24 to 8 hours, about ₹955; less than 8 hours, nothing.

For 26501 we could not confirm the fare, so work out your refund from the fare on your ticket. IRCTC’s published refund rules still show the older 48, 12 and 4-hour cut-offs, so the IRCTC cancellation screen is final. The Vande Bharat cancellation charges guide explains both sets of bands, and the refund calculator and cancellation deadline tool give your own figure and clock times.

When is the chart prepared for the Gorakhpur Patna Vande Bharat?

• 26502 leaves Gorakhpur at 05:40, so its first chart is prepared by 20:00 the evening before.
• 26501 leaves Patliputra at 15:30, so its first chart is prepared by 05:30 on the day of travel (10 hours before departure).

On both trains the chart comes before the 8-hour refund cut-off, and a confirmed e-ticket normally cannot be cancelled in the usual way once the chart is ready, so treat the chart time as your last chance to cancel. The chart preparation time tool works it out for any date.

Gorakhpur Patna Vande Bharat FAQs

What is the timing of the Gorakhpur to Patna Vande Bharat? Train 26502 leaves Gorakhpur Jn at 05:40 and reaches Patliputra at 12:45, a journey of 7 h 5 min.

What is the timing of the Patna to Gorakhpur Vande Bharat? Train 26501 leaves Patliputra at 15:30 and reaches Gorakhpur Jn at 22:30, a journey of 7 h.

Does the Gorakhpur Vande Bharat go to Patna Jn? No. It uses Patliputra (PPTA), on the north side of Patna, because the route runs north across the Ganga to Hajipur and Muzaffarpur. Search for Patliputra on IRCTC.

On which day does the Patliputra Gorakhpur Vande Bharat not run? Saturday, in both directions.

What is the Gorakhpur to Patna Vande Bharat ticket price? ₹1,075 in CC and ₹2,010 in EC with the meal on 26502 (checked 13 November 2026; confirm on IRCTC). We could not confirm the 26501 fare; check IRCTC.

What are the stops of the Gorakhpur Patna Vande Bharat? Eight intermediate stops on 26502: Kaptanganj Jn, Bagaha, Narkatiaganj Jn, Bettiah, Sagauli Jn, Bapudham Motihari, Muzaffarpur Jn and Hajipur Jn. 26501 calls at the same stations in reverse order.

Does the Gorakhpur Patna Vande Bharat stop at Muzaffarpur? Yes, for 5 minutes: 26502 arrives at 10:45 and 26501 at 17:00.

Does it go via Chhapra or Siwan? No. The train runs through Champaran instead: Bagaha, Narkatiaganj, Bettiah and Motihari, then Muzaffarpur and Hajipur.

Is this the slowest Vande Bharat? Among Chair Car Vande Bharat trains, yes, by average speed in our timetable data: about 54 km/h for 26502 and 55 km/h for 26501, over 384 km.

Can I go from Gorakhpur to Patna and back in one day? Yes, but with only 2 h 45 min in Patna: 26502 arrives at 12:45 and 26501 leaves at 15:30. Not on Saturday.

When does booking open for the Gorakhpur Patna Vande Bharat Express? 60 days before the journey at 08:00 IST on IRCTC. For Tuesday 12 January 2027, it opens on Friday 13 November 2026.

When is the chart prepared for 26501 and 26502? For 26502, which leaves at 05:40, by 20:00 the evening before. For 26501, which leaves at 15:30, by 05:30 on the day of travel.

When was the Patliputra Gorakhpur Vande Bharat launched? Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged it off virtually from Siwan on 20 June 2025.

Related routes

• Vande Bharat trains in Bihar
• Vande Bharat trains in Uttar Pradesh
• Full Vande Bharat route list

Sources

Timetable, stops and running days: erail 26501, erail 26502, cross-checked with ConfirmTkt 26501 and ConfirmTkt 26502, 11 November 2026. Fares: erail.in’s IRCTC fare data, cross-checked against its fare calculation, 13 November 2026. Launch: The Week (PTI). Pre-launch estimates: DNA India. Digha–Sonpur bridge: Indian Infrastructure. Fare rules: PIB, PIB, February 2026. Always confirm on IRCTC or NTES before travel. Report a correction.