Mumbai-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat train rams into cattle in Gujarat, front panel damaged; third incident this month

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Indian Railways on Saturday said that the Mumbai-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Superfast Express rammed into cattle near Atul station in Gujarat, causing a delay of 20 minutes in reaching its destination.

This is the third such incident involving this semi-high-speed train so far this month.

The incident occurred around 8.20 am, a railway official told PTI.

The train rammed into the cattle that came onto the track near Atul railway station. The train was stranded for nearly about 20 minutes due to the incident, before it resumed its journey towards Gandhinagar, he said.

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"The train did not suffer any operational damage. It resumed further journey in 20 minutes," said Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of Western Railway, adding that all the passengers onboard the train were safe.

Railway sources told PTI that the incident left the train's front panel damaged and also dented the underbelly equipment of its first coach.

On October 6, four buffaloes were killed after being hit by this train on its way to Gandhinagar from Mumbai between Vatva and Maninagar railway stations in Gujarat. Its nose panel had to be replaced overnight due to the damage. In the second such incident that occurred the next day (October 7), the train hit a cow near Anand in Gujarat while on its way to Mumbai.

(With inputs from PTI)