Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday digitally flagged off Northeast India’s first Vande Bharat Express from Guwahati to New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal .
PM Modi symbolically flagged off the train from Guwahati station by showing it on the screen. During this, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, Assam Governor Gulab Chand Kataria and Chief Minister Himanta Vishwa Sharma were also present.
On this occasion, Prime Minister Modi said that Vande Bharat Express will promote tourism, education, trade and employment in the Northeast. This semi high speed train between Guwahati and New Jalpaiguri (NJP) will strengthen the connectivity between Assam and West Bengal. This Vande Bharat Express train has been manufactured indigenously.
This train is equipped with advanced safety features. PM Modi said that in the last nine years, Northeast India has seen infrastructural development with all the states connected by railway network. The Prime Minister said that infrastructural development is for all without any discrimination, which shows the real social justice and secularism.
This state-of-the-art train will provide the people of the region a means of traveling with speed and comfort and will also give a boost to tourism in the region. Vande Bharat Express will cover the journey in five hours 30 minutes, while the current fastest train on this route takes 6 hours 30 minutes to cover the same journey.
Prime Minister Modi also dedicated to the nation the newly electrified sections of the 182-km route and inaugurated the newly constructed DEMU/MEMU shed at Lumding in Assam. PM Modi said that the world appreciates the way India has strengthened its economy despite various challenges in the last few years.
Let us inform that earlier on May 25, Prime Minister Modi had flagged off the Delhi-Dehradun Vande Bharat Express through video conference. PM Modi said that he has just returned from a three-nation tour and can say that the whole world is looking towards India with great hope.
