PM Narendra Modi flags off Vande Bharat Express

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged country's first semi-high speed trainset Train 18, titled the Vande Bharat Express, from New Delhi Railway station.

Mr Modi also inspected the facilities in the train and addressed a gathering.

Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal led the team of officials and media persons aboard the train on its inaugural run on New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route.It will stop at Kanpur and Allahabad where it will be received by dignitaries and the people.

The train will cover the distance between New Delhi and Varanasi in 8 hours and will run on all days except Monday and Thursday.

Vande Bharat Express has 16 air-conditioned coaches of which two are executive class coaches. The total seating capacity is 1,128 passengers. It is much more than the conventional Shatabdi rake of equal number of coaches, thanks to shifting of all electric equipment below the coaches and seats in the driving coach also.

Adding up the green footprints, the train has regenerative braking system in the Vande Bharat Express coaches which can save up to 30 per cent of electrical energy.Speed, Safety and Service are the hallmarks of this train. Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, a Railways Production unit, has been the force behind a completely in-house design and manufacture, computer modelling and working with a large number of suppliers for system integration in just 18 months.(UNI)