Miscreants pelt stones on yet to launch Sec'bad- Vizag Vande Bharat express

Visakhapatnam: Unknown miscreants pelted stones on the Vande Bharat train which was to be flagged off by PM Modi on January 19. This is the sixth train for the country to function from Secunderabad - Vishakapatnam. However, the launch of the express was postponed earlier in the morning, owing to reasons best known to the South Central Railways.

On January 11, Wednesday morning, Vande Bharat train reached Visakhapatnam railway station for maintenance. A trial run has been conducted by the Railway Officials. At around 6 pm, while the train was on its way to the coach care centre for maintenance at Marripapem, some unknown persons pelted stones near Kancharapalem area. The coach glass was broken.

Soon after the incident, a probe has been launched by Divisional Railway Manager Anup Satpathy. The officials are verifying the CC camera in the surroundings. The Railway Protection Force is in search of the culprits. No one has been detained, yet.

The train is likely to run on the lines of Janmbhoomi Express, reducing the travel time to 8 hours from 12-14 hours. According to the sources, the officials are also finding possibilities to extend Vande Bharat train services to Tirupati. If the train runs from Secunderabad- Tirupati, it will reduce time and passenger rush from Vijayawada.

Vande Bharat trains are currently running on New Delhi-Varanasi, New Delhi-Katra, Mumbai Central-Gandhinagar, New Delhi-Amb Andaura, and MGR Chennai Central-Mysuru routes.

Features:

-AC train with 16 coaches with a capacity of 1,128 seats

-The train has an intelligent braking system that enables better acceleration and deceleration.

-Vande Bharat trains can reach a speed of 0-100 km per hour in 52 seconds, with a top-up speed of 180 kmph.

-All coaches are equipped with automatic doors, GPS-based audio-visual passenger information systems, and divyanka-friendly facilities.

-Hotspot wifi on board for entertainment purposes.