Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Gandhinagar Capital station on 30th September, 2022 and flagged off the inaugural run of the new & upgraded Vande Bharat Express between Gandhinagar Capital & Mumbai Central. Acharya Devvrat – Governor of Gujarat, Bhupendrabhai Patel – Chief Minister of Gujarat, Ashwini Vaishnaw – Union Minister for Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs, Smt Darshana Jardosh, Union Minster of State for Textiles & Railways and other dignitaries were also among those present on the occasion.
According to a press release issued by Sumit Thakur - Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, Prime Minister arrived at Gandhinagar Capital station and inspected the train coaches of the Vande Bharat Express 2.0 & took stock of the on board facilities. He also inspected the control centre of the locomotive engine of this upgraded version of the train. Then, Narendra Modi flagged off the Gandhinagar Capital – Mumbai Central Vande Bharat Express. After the flagging off, PM boarded the Vande Bharat Express and travelled from Gandhinagar Capital station to Ahmedabad station. PM interacted with his co-passengers including those from the family members of Railways staff, women entrepreneurs and researchers and youngsters. He also interacted with workers, engineers and other staff who toiled to make Vande Bharat trains a shining success. After alighting at Ahmedabad station, Prime Minister proceeded to the function venue at Ahmedabad Education Society wherein he inaugurated the Phase-I of Ahmedabad Metro rail project by flagging off the metro train and took a metro ride from Kalupur station to Doordarshan Kendra metro station.
Thakur further informed that all the passengers travelling in the inaugural run of the Vande Bharat Express were presented with a Souvenir Ticket & Memento to make this historic trip commemorative & memorable. The passengers were delighted to receive these memorabilia and expressed their thanks.
Salient Features of Vande Bharat Express
The Vande Bharat Express 2.0 offers a myriad of superior and aircraft-like travelling experience. It is equipped with advanced state-of-the-art safety features including an indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System - KAVACH. It is provided with more advanced and improved features which enables it in reaching the speed of 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in just 52 seconds. The improved Vande Bharat Express weighs 392 tons as compared to the previous version of 430 tons. It also has Wi-Fi content on-demand facility and every coach is equipped with 32” screens providing Passenger Information and Infotainment. For the convenience of Divyangjans, many Divyang-friendly facilities have been provided including seat handles with seat numbers in Braille letters. There are reclining seats in all classes while the Executive Coaches have the added feature of 180 degree rotating seats. This train has also been provided with four platform side cameras outside the coach, including rear view cameras.
The train has been designed to increase Indian Railways' Green footprint by dispensing with the power cars and saving about 30% electricity with advanced regenerative braking system. Also, the Air –Conditioners are 15 per cent more energy efficient. In this upgraded version of the train, a photo-catalytic ultraviolet air purification system is installed in the Roof-Mounted Package Unit (RMPU) for air purification. This system is designed and installed on both ends of RMPU to filter and clean the air free from germs, bacteria, viruses etc. coming through fresh air and return air. With dust-free clean air cooling of the traction motor, the travel will become more comfortable.
Vande Bharat Express 2.0 between Gandhinagar and Mumbai will be a game changer and will boost connectivity between the two business hubs of India.
