Vande Bharat Express: Third rake reaches Chandigarh for speed trials | Photos

The third rake of the newly-designed Vande Bharat train has reached Chandigarh. It is here the trials of the train will be conducted before the start of the commercial run.

During the trial run, the new rake of Vande Bharat will be tested at a speed of 180 kmph. Apart from this, it will traverse 15,000 km and the testing includes dynamic, static, load test and oscillation trials.

After the tests, Integral Coach Factory(ICF) intends to produce many more such trains that will change the railway traveling landscape in India.

Union Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw rolled out the train on August 12 from Integral Coach Factory(ICF) in Chennai.

"Getting ready to roll - 3rd Vande Bharat Train reaches stabling line in Chandigarh for speed trial," Union Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw said in a Tweet.

Getting ready to roll - 3rd Vande Bharat Train reaches stabling line in Chandigarh for speed trial. pic.twitter.com/lAzab4J9W7

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) August 18, 2022

Vande Bharat: Key features

Automatic opening of doors
Comfortable space in the driver's cabin for the loco pilots to operate
Differently abled-friendly toilets
For passengers, the train has reclining chairs

Indian Railways is planning to roll out 75 Vande Bharat rakes by August 2023, according to news agency IANS. According to Ashwani Vaishnaw, the government has plans to introduce as many as 475 Vande Bharat trains in the next four years. These trains will cover all the states.

Notably, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting the Union Budget for 2022-23, had said 400 new energy efficient Vande Bharat trains will be introduced in three years.

As present, there are two Vande Bharat Express trains. The two trains run on New Delhi-Varanasi and New Delhi - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra routes. The first Vande Bharat Express was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 17 February, 2019 on New Delhi-Varanasi route. This was India's first semi-high speed train.