The engine-less semi-high speed train, Vande Bharat Express, was flagged off from Delhi Railway Station by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15. Ever since the launch, the train has become a big hit.
It has been manufactured under PM Modi’s ‘Make in India’ scheme at a cost of Rs 97 crore by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. The state-of-an-art train has created a unique record of being punctual on almost all days of service in April.
As per Amar Ujala report, The Train 18 or Vande Bharat Express made its journey between Delhi and Varanasi in 8 hours, thereby creating a punctuality record of reaching the destination on time.
For years, Indian trains came under fire for running 1 hour or 2-hour delay in services but this self-propelled express train has carved out a unique reputation for itself as the best train in India in terms of speed, amenities and punctuality. Vande Bharat Express is the future of train travel in India.
The Vande Bharat Express operates for five days a week. It begins its journey from New Delhi at 6:00 AM and reaches Varanasi at 2:00 PM.
The train 18 covers the 770 km distance between Delhi and Varanasi in eight hours, a staggering record. This distance was covered by the self-propelled without any time delay for 25 days in the last month (calculating its stoppages at Kanpur and Prayagraj stations).
It is true that Vande Bharat Express is India’s fastest engine-less train at 180 kmph, despite it hits maximum on 130 kmph on the Delhi-Varanasi stretch because of track restrictions.
The Train 18 sets are expected to replace the Shatabdi Express trains across the Indian Railways network. The 16 coach train is well equipped with all air-conditioned chair cars (non-executive as well as executive chair car coaches).
It has an international look and feel, and now several countries have already expressed their readiness for export interest. The new Vande Bharat Express has attractive features like European-style comfortable seats, aircraft-like diffused lighting, rotating seats in the Executive chair car, modular bio-vacuum toilets, stylishly expensive mini pantry, fully sealed gangways for dust-free environment, easy movement of passengers, automatic temperature control system, automatic doors with sliding footsteps, disabled-friendly toilets including wheelchair parking spaces.
