Vande Bharat Trains Expansion: Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented a special gift to Odisha and West Bengal on Thursday by inaugurating the Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat train. This marks the 16th Vande Bharat train in the country’s fleet. The train is set to commence its operations on May 20.
Following the successful launch in Odisha, there are plans to introduce the first Vande Bharat train in Uttarakhand as well, as confirmed by Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav. Furthermore, the minister announced the initiation of the manufacturing process for 400 Vande Bharat trains.
Ambitious Plan to Connect Every State with Vande Bharat Trains
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has revealed that extensive preparations are underway to facilitate the production of Vande Bharat trains across all factories, including the Integrated Coach Factory (ICF). Additionally, efforts are being made to streamline the supply chain, engineering, and factory setup. The primary objective is to establish connectivity between every state through the Vande Bharat train network.
The target is to manufacture an average of two train sets every eight days. To improve connectivity in Odisha, the Department of Telecom has allocated Rs 5,600 crore in addition to the Railway’s efforts.
The Train can start for Dehradun soon
The Railway Minister has announced that the Vande Bharat train is likely to commence operations soon in Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand. Subsequently, trial runs will be initiated in Guwahati. Ashwini Vaishnav mentioned, “The second Vande Bharat Express train in Odisha can operate on the Puri-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Angul-Rourkela route.” He also expressed plans to introduce the Vande Metro on the Puri-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack route in January or February of the following year. Vaishnav intends to request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allocate another Vande Bharat train and Vande Metro to Odisha.
Started trial run of Vande Bharat on Mumbai-Goa Route
The trial run of the Vande Bharat Express on the Mumbai-Goa route commenced on Tuesday. Capable of reaching speeds of up to 180 kmph, the train departed from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal (CSMT) at 5:30 am and arrived at Goa’s Madgaon station at 12:50 am. The return journey from Madgaon commenced around 1:15 am. Notably, there are three Vande Bharat Express trains operating between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Solapur, and Shirdi respectively.