Vande Bharat Trains Expansion: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday gifted the Vande Bharat train to Odisha and West Bengal. PM Modi flagged off the Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat train. This train will start running on the track from May 20.
This is the 16th Vande Bharat train of the country. After Odisha, now Uttarakhand can also get the first Vande Bharat train soon. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has confirmed this. The Union Railway Minister said that the process of making 400 Vande Bharat trains will start.
Target to connect every state
According to Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, preparations are being made for production in all the factories including the Integrated Coach Factory (ICF). Apart from this, supply chain, engineering, factory etc. are also being prepared. According to the Union Minister, the first target is to connect every state with the Vande Bharat train.
On an average, a target has been set to produce two vehicles in eight days. The Railway Minister said that apart from Railways, the Department of Telecom has provided Rs 5,600 crore to Odisha to improve connectivity in Odisha.
Train can start for Dehradun
The Railway Minister said that Vande Bharat train may start soon for Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand. After this, trial run will start in Guwahati. Ashwini Vaishnav told that ‘the second Vande Bharat Express train in Odisha can run on the Puri-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Angul-Rourkela route’. Vaishnav, a Rajya Sabha member from Odisha, said that there is a plan to run Vande Metro in Puri-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack in January-February next year. He said that he would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give another Vande Bharat and Vande Metro to Odisha.
Trial run of Vande Bharat started on Mumbai-Goa route
Trial run of Vande Bharat Express on Mumbai-Goa route started on Tuesday. Capable of running at a speed of 180 kmph, the Vande Bharat train left Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal (CSMT) at 5.30 am and reached Goa’s Madgaon station at 12.50 am. The same train left Madgaon at around 1.15 am. Significantly, three Vande Bharat Express trains run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Solapur and Shirdi.
