Face of Nation : India Railways successfully conducted the trail of the second Vande Bharat Express train. Known to be India’s fastest train, Vande Bharat Express’s trial run from New Delhi to Katra was successfully conducted by the Northern Railway Zone of the Indian Railways on Tuesday, July 23 and will be back on July 24.
After the successful Confirmatory Oscillograph Car Runs (COCR) trial of the new Vande Bharat Express (Train 18) on the Delhi-Katra route, it is expected that the train might soon extend its service to Vaishno Devi.
Abhinav Singhla, Ludhiana Station Director, while speaking to news agency ANI, said, “The trial run was conducted successfully. This train is better than Shatabdi Express; it runs at a speed of 160 km per hour.” The Vande Bharat Express started its journey from New Delhi railway station at 6:00 AM. During the trail run, it took a scheduled two-minute halts at Ambala Cantonment station at 8:10 AM, Ludhiana station at 9:19 AM and Jammu Tawi station at 12.38 PM, before reaching Katra railway station at 2:00 PM, the same day.
According to sources, the second Vande Bharat Express is proposed to run three days a week, which includes Monday, Thursday and Saturday. The Vande Bharat Express will leave from Delhi at 6:00 AM and reach Katra at 2:00 PM on the same day. On its return journey, the train will leave Katra the same day at 3:00 PM and reach the national capital at 11:00 PM. The train will have halts for around two-minutes each at Ambala, Ludhiana, and Jammu Tawi stations, before arriving at Katra.
The features of the train include a GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system, onboard hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes, pantry and bio-vacuum toilets, improved seating, a facility for freezer and hot case.
