Vande Bharat Express commercial run begins, tickets sold out for 2 week

Vande Bharat Express

New Delhi: As commercial operations of Vande Bharat Express commence today, tickets are already sold out for the next two weeks.

"Vande Bharat Express left Delhi for Varanasi today morning on its first commercial run. Tickets sold out for the next two weeks already. Get yours today!" Railways Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted on Sunday.

On February 16, the return journey of Vande Bharat Express following its maiden run was disrupted for over an hour, possibly due to a cattle run.

Vande Bharat Express, also dubbed as 'Train 18' was flagged off from New Delhi Railway Station by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15 and was returning back from Varanasi when the disruption occurred.

"The train was returning at night and a cattle run over is a possibility at odd times. After removing the obstacles the train resumed its journey and moved for Delhi at around 8.15 am", according to a statement of the Railway Ministry.

Vande Bharat Express is designed and developed by a Chennai-based Railways Production unit, Integral Coach Factory in just 18 months which also includes the in-house design and manufacture, computer modelling and working etc.

Vande Bharat Express, which is India's fastest train from New Delhi to Varanasi, can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph and has travel classes like Shatabdi Train but with better facilities in a bid to provide a totally new travel experience to passengers.

The train, which is being seen as the next major leap for Indian Railways in terms of speed and convenience, will cover the distance between New Delhi and Varanasi in 8 hours taking stops at Kanpur and Allahabad. It has 16 coaches (2 executive chair car and 14 chair car) and will run on all days except Monday and Thursday.

All coaches of the train are equipped with automatic doors, GPS based audio-visual passenger information system, onboard hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes, and bio-vacuum toilets. The fully air-conditioned train will move with all gates closed. Every coach has a pantry with the facility to serve hot meals, hot and cold beverages.

Adding up the green footprints, this fully "Make in India" train has regenerative braking system in the coaches which can save up to 30 per cent of electrical energy.

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