PM Modi Flags Off Northeast's First Vande Bharat Express Connecting Guwahati To New Jalpaiguri

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (29 May) flagged off the first Vande Bharat Express of Northeast in Assam via video-conferencing.

The state of the art Vande Bharat Express will provide people of the region the means to travel with speed and comfort and will also boost tourism in the region.

Connecting Guwahati with New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, the train will help save about an hour of journey time, when compared with the current fastest train connecting the two places.

Vande Bharat will cover the journey in 5 hours 30 minutes, while the current fastest train takes 6 hours 30 minutes to cover the same journey.

The train will run six days a week and will stop at six stations: New Alipurduar, Kokrajhar, New Bongaigaon, and Kamakhya, as well as junctions in New Jalpaiguri and Guwahati, reports Livemint.

The train will leave New Jalpaiguri at 6.10 am and arrive in Guwahati at midday. Vande Bharat Express will depart Guwahati at 4.30 pm and arrive in New Jalpaiguri around 10.20 pm.

During the event, PM Modi also dedicated 182 route km of newly electrified sections that will help provide pollution free transportation with trains running at higher speed and reduced running time of trains.

It will also open the doors for trains running on electric traction to enter Meghalaya, according to a PMO release.

Prime Minister will also inaugurate a newly constructed DEMU/MEMU shed at Lumding in Assam. This new facility will be helpful for maintaining DEMU rakes operating in this region, leading to better operational feasibility.