News Brief
Arun Kumar Das
Oct 12, 2022, 10:23 AM | Updated 10:15 AM IST
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the fourth Vande Bharat Express from Una in Himachal Pradesh tomorrow (13 October).
The New Delhi-bound Vande Bharat Express would cover the journey in 5 hours 15 minutes from Una as against 6 hours 40 minutes in the Jan Shatabdi Express plying between these two destinations.
Manufactured at ICF in Chennai, India’s fourth Vande Bharat Express is on its way to Himachal Pradesh for the inaugural service in the morning hours of Thursday.
The New Delhi-Una Vande Bharat Express would cover Chandigarh, Ambala and two more stations in Himachal Pradesh providing faster service in the region.
While the first Vande Bharat train was flagged off by Prime Minister Modi in February 2019 and pressed into service for Varanasi from the capital, the second rake is operational between New Delhi and Katra.
The third Vande Bharat is currently running successfully in Mumbai-Gandhinagar sector.
The 16-coach semi-high-speed train is equipped with improved amenities as compared to the earlier version of Vande Bharat train.
Since the fourth rake does not require a safety clearance from the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety (CCRS), it is being inducted into operation directly after coming out of the ICF. However, there is a dry run on the proposed track to ensure OHE, and other essentials are in order.
Before commissioning the third Vande Bharat into service, the second version of the semi-high-speed train had gone through extensive trials to get the CCRS clearance.
According to the railways, Vande Bharat Express trains would be soon rolled out in all parts of the country.
The new Vande Bharat train has innovative features which make it a world-class train.
Prime Minister Modi had set a target to make 75 Vande Bharat trains on the 75th anniversary of India’s independence. Keeping up with his vision, 75 Vande Bharat trains would be manufactured and rolled across the nation before 15 August 2023.
Arun Kumar Das is a senior journalist covering railways. He can be contacted at akdas2005@gmail.com.