The third Vande Bharat Express of India and the first in Mumbai will be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 30th 2022 at around 10.30 am from Gandhinagar. The train will run between Gujarat's capital Gandhinagar and Mumbai.
FPJ had earlier reported about PM Modi likely inaugurating the project on September 30 after the route trial was successfully conducted on September 9.
The first Vande Bharat Express train was launched between New Delhi to Varanasi in February 2019. In October 2019, the second Vande Bharat Express was launched between New Delhi to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Katra.
Vande Bharat is a self-propelled semi-high-speed train. It has automatic doors and air-conditioned chair car coaches and a revolving chair that can rotate up to 180 degrees. It's not only faster than other super fast trains running in the country but also provides jerk-free and noise-less travel to the passengers.
"This is a bit different from those two already in operation with enhanced safety and convenience features for passengers," said a railway official.
Safety enhancements in the upgraded Vande Bharat train with the Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) or Kavach prevent signal passing at danger (SPAD) cases and unsafe situations arising due to overspeeding and train collisions in station areas. The train set has been designed for acceleration reserve, which will help maintain the slope's speed.
While the previous Vande Bharat train set has a one-hour battery backup, the third one will have a three-hour backup. As per ICF officials, "The new rake has a better acceleration and deceleration capacity and will be able to reach 160 kmph in just 140 seconds as compared to 145 seconds for the earlier rakes." The new rake also has four platform side cameras, including rearview cameras, instead of the earlier two. They said it has better heat ventilation and air-conditioning control owing to higher efficiency compressors and UV lamps for the germ-free supply of air.
However, the timing of the commercial run of the train and fare has still not been announced by the Railway, but sources said that the new Vande Bharat Express will depart from Gandhinagar at 7 am and will reach Mumbai at 1:30 pm. In the other direction, it will depart Mumbai Central at 2:40 pm and reach Gandhinagar at around 9:30 pm.
Meanwhile, IRCTC has raised concerns over the timing of Vande Bharat Express and Tejas Express which also runs between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. It said that the timing of Vande Bharat will eat into the revenue of the Tejas Express. IRCTC has conveyed to the Railway Board that the introduction of the Vande Bharat Express would adversely affect the running of the Tejas Express on the same route. While the Tejas Express departs from Ahmedabad at 6:40 am and arrives at Mumbai at 1:05 pm, in the other direction, it departs Mumbai Central at 3:45 pm and reaches
