A day after it was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s fastest train, Vande Bharat Express, broke down on Saturday morning, leaving it stranded 15km away from the Tundla junction in Uttar Pradesh that is around 150km away from the national capital.
As media reports, The train began making a suspicious noise early Saturday morning after which the engine of the train failed, its wheels skid and the breaks jammed in one of the trailing coaches. Four coaches turned ‘dead load’, meaning they have no power to move.
Engineers on the train have reportedly told senior officials that the controls have also failed and the snag is “unfixable” for now.They are likely to get the Train 18 to the nearest maintenance shed, if not New Delhi.
The people on board, including journalists, have been shifted to two different trains.
The train was set to begin its commercial run from tomorrow on sunday. But due to the breakdown, there is uncertainty over Sunday’s first commercial run.
The engineless train, formerly known as Train 18, had rolled out of the New Delhi railway station at 11.19 am on Friday for its inaugural journey to Varanasi. It had hit a top speed of 130 km per hour in its first journey.
Speaking to reporters on board the train, railway minister Piyush Goyal had said this state of the art train will offer a convenient experience to passengers and reduce travel time on the New Delhi-Varanasi route to eight hours compared to 13-14 hours other trains take for the trip.
