Infrastructure

Vande Bharat Express to run on Delhi-Katra route from Navratri season

Updated : September 18, 2019 01:16 PM IST

Indian Railways has decided to run the second Vande Bharat Express, the country's fastest train, on Delhi-Katra route from the Navratri season, which starts from September 29.

The train has already completed trials on the route.

Indian Railways has decided to run the second Vande Bharat Express, the country's fastest train, on Delhi-Katra route from the Navratri season, which starts from September 29.

The announcement was made by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Twitter.

मुझे यह सूचित करते हुए अत्यंत खुशी हो रही है कि, आधुनिकतम और मेक इन इंडिया के तहत बनी दूसरी वंदे भारत एक्सप्रेस का नई दिल्ली से माँ वैष्णो देवी के पावन स्थल कटरा तक ट्रायल रन पूरा हो चुका है और माता के भक्तों के लिए यह ट्रेन नवरात्रो में शुरू कर दी जाएगी।

जय माता दी 🚩 pic.twitter.com/U3RcCxOYUi
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) September 18, 2019

The train has already completed trials on the route.

Vande Bharat Express, earlier called Train 18, is the country's first indigenous high-speed train that can run up to a maximum speed of 160 km per hour.

The train was introduced in February this year on Delhi-Varanasi route and covers a distance of around 750 km in 8 hours. Only two rakes of this train are available as of now, one for Delhi-Varanasi and the other for Delhi-Katra.

Production of this train was halted due to allegations of lack of transparency but with a tender process now in place for its manufacturing, the production of Vande Bharat is back on track. Railways plan to make 40 Vande Bharat rakes by 2022.

"We are going to build 40 rakes of Vande Bharat till 2022 and that will happen in a batch of 15 for one year and 25 for another," Railway board chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav said recently.

As per railways, the train can reduce journey time by 25 percent to 45 percent.

The train boasts of features like onboard wifi entertainment, GPS-based passenger information system, CCTVs, bio-vacuum toilets, rotating chairs in executive class. It also has the provision of Divyang-friendly facilities.

The train has 16 coaches with Chair Car type configuration with 2 Executive Class Chair Cars and 14 Chair Cars.

Vande Bharat Express to run on Delhi-Katra route from Navratri season

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