Chennai: Almost a fortnight after launching the third Vande Bharat train between Gandhinagar and Mumbai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the fourth semi-high-speed train at Una in Himachal Pradesh Thursday. This train will cover a distance of 412 km between Amb Andaura in Una and New Delhi in five-and-a-half hours — against the nearly 7 hours taken by the Shatabdi now — and will have stoppages at Una, Nangal, Chandigarh and Ambala.
Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are scheduled to go to the polls later this year.
Atul Kumar Agarwal, the general manager of Chennai’s Integral Coach Factory — where the indigenous trains are manufactured — told ThePrint that the fourth Vande Bharat express has the same upgraded features as the third one.
“The train can go up to a maximum speed of 162 km per hour in 142 seconds. It will have reclining seats in the chair car and revolving seats in executive class,” Agarwal said.
Senior railway ministry officials said plans were on to roll out the fifth Vande Bharat train between Chennai and Mysuru.
The 16-coach trains are “seating-only”, self-propelled expresses costing the Indian Railways between Rs 100 crore and Rs 150 crore. This is approximately 40 per cent cheaper than similar trains imported from Europe.
The semi-high speed train comes fitted with CCTV-equipped coaches and better amenities, hygiene and food. Facilities include reclining seats, Wi-Fi infotainment, a GPS-based passenger information system, touch-free automatic plug doors with sliding footsteps and diffused LED lighting.
The train also has charging points beneath every seat, individual touch-based reading lights and an intelligent air conditioning system that adjusts to climate conditions and occupancy.
It also has bio-vacuum toilets onboard, which are equipped with touch-free amenities, better heat ventilation and an air conditioning system with UV lamps for a germ-free supply of air.
In addition to the washrooms being disabled-friendly, seat numbers are written on handles in Braille to assist visually-impaired passengers.
The central government has set a target of 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 15, 2023.
The first two Vande Bharat Expresses, launched in February 2019 and October 2019, are operational on the New Delhi-Varanasi, and New Delhi-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra routes, respectively.
(This report has been updated with additional inputs)
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