Farheen Bano
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 12 December flagged off India’s sixth Vande Bharat Express between Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh)-Nagpur (Maharashtra) route.PM Modi flagged off the train from Nagpur railway station and was accompanied by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari.
The Vande Bharat Express can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph and has travel classes like Shatabdi Train but with better facilities. It aims to provide a totally new travel experience to passengers.Vande Bharat Express is India’s first semi-highspeed train equipped with world-class passenger amenities. It will reduce journey time by 25 percent to 45 percent.
The Vande Bharat Express train has an intelligent braking system that enables better acceleration and deceleration. All coaches are equipped with automatic doors; GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system, on-board hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes, and comfortable seating .
It will have scheduled stops at Raipur, Durg and Gondia.The Bilaspur-Nagpur Vande Bharat Express will operate six days a week . It will have scheduled stops at Raipur, Durg and Gondia .This train will leave Bilaspur at around 6.45am and reach Nagpur at around 12.15pm. Similarly, the train will leave Nagpur at 2pm to reach Bilaspur at 7.35pm. Currently superfast trains take around seven hours to reach Nagpur, however this train will cover the distance in around five-and-a-half hours,” said the official.
A new-generation Vande Bharat train was first inaugurated on the Mumbai- Ahmedabad route in October this year. The Railways aims to inaugurate 75 Vande Bharat trains by August next year.