Watch: PM Modi flags off Gandhinagar-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express, takes a ride

The train will provide passengers aircraft-like travelling experience and advanced safety features including Kavach technology, an indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System.

PM Narendra Modi flags off Vande Bharat Express at Gandhinagar Capital station, Gujarat on Friday. (PTI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday morning flagged off the newly upgraded Vande Bharat Express, a semi high-speed train that will connect Gandhinagar and Mumbai.

After flagging off the train from Gandhinagar Capital at around 10.30 am, he took a ride to Kalupur railway station in Ahmedabad. This train is the third of its kind. The first such train operates on the New Delhi-Varanasi route, while the second one on the New Delhi-Vaishno Devi Katra route, an official said.

The train will provide passengers aircraft-like travelling experience and advanced safety features including Kavach technology, an indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System, the official added.

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PM Modi interacts with staff onboard the Vande Bharat Express train on Friday. (Twitter/@PMOIndia)

Passengers commuting from Mumbai to Ahmedabad in the executive chair car will be charged Rs 2,505, whereas the fare for chair car will be Rs 1,385.

The Gandhinagar-Mumbai Vande Bharat Superfast Express will start its commercial run from October 1. It will operate six days a week except Sundays. The train will depart from the Mumbai Central station at 6.10 am and reach Gandhinagar at 12.30 pm. For the return journey, the train will depart from Gandhinagar at 2.05 pm and arrive at Mumbai Central at 8.35 pm.

It will halt at Surat, Vadodara and Ahmedabad stations in both directions.

Vande Bharat Express train flagged off by PM crosses Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad on Friday.
(Express Photo by Nirmal Harindran)

Vande Bharat Express is an indigenously designed semi-High speed self-propelled train set of 16 coaches. The train reaches 160 kmph speed in just 140 seconds. Equipped with automatic plug doors with sliding footsteps and touch-free sliding doors inside coaches, the seats inside the executive class are revolving.

PM @narendramodi takes a ride on board #VandeBharatExpress at Gandhinagar Railway Station, #Gujarat.@RailMinIndia @AshwiniVaishnaw @HardeepSPuri @MIB_India @PIB_India @ianuragthakur @PIBAhmedabad @CBC_MIB @CMOGuj pic.twitter.com/5UVj6Jjh52

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) September 30, 2022

This is the first train with facilities present in flights — bio-vacuum toilets with touch-free amenities and special lavatory for divyang (specially-abled) passengers. The seats’ handles are provided with seat numbers in Braille letters to assist the visually-challenged passengers. The train is equipped with Kavach (train collision avoidance system) safety system.

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Modi also inaugurated phase-I of the Ahmedabad Metro rail project between Thaltej and Vastral on the second day of his Gujarat visit on Friday.

(With inputs from PTI)

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