Delhi-Chandigarh in under 3 hours, courtesy 4th Vande Bharat
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to flag off the fourth Vande Bharat Express train on Thursday, set to run between Himachal Pradesh's Una and Delhi. The fully air-conditioned train will offer world-class facilities and comfort to passengers including bio-toilets. But the most significant change it will bring is that it will cut the Chandigarh-Delhi route to less than three hours.
Why does this story matter?
In 2019, Indian Railways named the country's first indigenously built engine-less train, Train 18, as Vande Bharat Express, acknowledging its Make in India status. The first train under the initiative ply between Delhi and PM Modi's constituency, Varanasi. The train is the first engine-less train manufactured in the country and also the fastest train after hitting 180 km/h speed in a trial run.
What will be the timings of the train?
The Vande Bharat Express will depart from Amb Andaura at 1:00 pm daily except Wednesdays, according to officials. It will stop at Una and Anandpur Sahib in Punjab before arriving in Chandigarh at 3:35 pm. It will arrive in Delhi at 6:25 pm from Chandigarh, cutting the train journey time between Punjab and Haryana's combined capital and the national capital by half an hour.
Travel faster than Shatabdi Express
Currently, Shatabdi Express trains take roughly three and a half hours to reach Delhi from Chandigarh which will now be completed in less than 3 hours, NDTV reported. The travel from Amb to Delhi will take around five and a half hours. It will depart from Delhi at 5:50 am, arrive at Una at 10:34 am, and arrive in Amb Andaura at 11:05 am.
Advanced train to boost tourism
This is an "advanced version" of the Vande Bharat trains, far lighter and capable of attaining faster speeds in a shorter period. It can accelerate to 100 km/h in 52 seconds. The advent of the train would assist enhance tourism in the region while also providing a more pleasant and speedier form of transportation, as per the official note.
The train boasts of many world-class features
Vande Bharat Express or Train 18 with world-class amenities would replace the existing Shatabdi Express. The 16-coach train will also have two executive chair cars and is energy efficient and self-propelled. Features offered include Wi-Fi facility, CCTV cameras, GPS-based passenger information system, infotainment system, automatic doors, roller blinds, automatic temperature control, LED lighting, charging points at every seat, and touch-free bio-vacuum toilet among others.
A little about the ICF and Train 18 project
Founded in 1955, Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has rolled out more than 60,000 rail coaches till 2019. It stopped manufacturing ICF coaches last year as they were considered outdated for Rajdhani and Shatabdi and began producing only state-of-the-art Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches as part of Rajdhani and Shatabdi. Sudhanshu Mani, the former General Manager of ICF, had conceived the idea of Train 18.
