Vande Bharat Express: Seven facts to know about India's premium train

With Vande Bharat Express, previously known as Train 18, Indian Railways has added another feather in its cap as this train has many state-of-art features including automatic doors, bio-vacuum toilets, GPS-enabled compartments and Wifi facility, superseding the amenities available in Rajdhani, Duronto, and Shatabdi Express trains. The success of this train has forced Indian Railways to introduce a couple of more such trains on several other routes, including one on Mumbai-Delhi route with a bunch of new safety features. Vande Bharat Express covers a distance of 769 kilometres from New Delhi Railway Station to Varanasi Junction in about eight hours and halts at only two stations - Allahabad Junction and Kanpur Central.

Currently, running on the New Delhi-Varanasi route, Vande Bharat Express (Train 18), which runs for five days in a week, ticket booking rules 2019 are given here.

1. The passengers willing to travel by Vande Bharat Express need to plan their journeys according to the schedule of the train, as it runs five days in a week -Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

2. No concession is allowed in Vande Bharat Express trains for adults falling in senior citizen/divyang/journalist. 

3. In this train, only child fares are admissible and no other quota is available except General and Tatkal quota.

4. The passengers boarding Vande Bharat Express from Allahabad to Varanasi and from Varanasi to Allahabad shall have an option to opt out of on-board catering services while booking the ticket from IRCTC e-ticketing website, and Indian Railways ticket counters and ticket booking offices. 

5. Those who are not willing to take the catering services between Allahabad and Varanasi are required to pay the fares exclusive of catering charges.

6. If a passenger does not opt for catering service in advance and subsequently decides to purchase the same on-board, an extra amount of Rs.50/-per service, in addition to the above catering charges, shall be charged, according to IRCTC.

7. Other terms and conditions for booking, cancellation, refund etc. with regard to Vande Bharat Express shall be as per Shatabdi trains.