India’s engine-less first semi-high speed train Vande Bharat Express was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday from the New Delhi railway station amid serious mood in the backdrop of the terror attack in Pulwama. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and members of the Railway Board were also on board the train on its inaugural journey. “I am grateful to designers and engineers behind Vande Bharat Express which will take its first trip from Delhi to Varanasi today. With our sincerity and hardwork in the last 4.5 years we have tried to improve railways,” the Prime Minister said. The bookings for the train are open. A senior railway official said that tickets of the first commercial run of Vande Bharat Express on February 17 have been completely sold out.
All You Need To Know About Vande Bharat Express:
- The semi-high speed Train 18, which has been recently rechristened Vande Bharat Express, can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph.
- Vande Bharat Express will travel from Delhi to Varanasi in 9 hours and 45 minutes. This includes stoppage time of 40 minutes each at Kanpur and Allahabad.
- The Vane Bharat Express train, with its plush purple interiors, has 16 air-conditioned coaches of which two are executive class. It has a seating capacity of 1,128 passengers.
- All coaches of Vande Bhart Express are equipped with automatic doors, GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system and on-board hotspot WiFi for entertainment purposes.
- All the toilets of the high speed train are bio-vacuum type.
- Every seat has dual mode lighting that can be personalised for every seat.
- The coach of the train has a pantry facility to serve hot meals and, hot and cold beverages.
- The train has regenerative braking system which can save up to 30 per cent of electrical energy.
- The tickets for Vande Bharat Express or Train 18 can be booked online. The chair car ticket will cost Rs. 1,760 and the executive class fare will be Rs. 3,310.
- The Vande Bharat Express has been developed indigenously by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai. It was completed in 18 months.
