PM Modi flags off two new Vande Bharat trains

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off two Vande Bharat train services in Telangana and Tamil Nadu.

• The Chennai-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express is expected to cut down the travel time between the two cities by more than one hour. 

• In a function at the MGR Chennai Central Railway Station, the PM flagged off the inaugural special of the train, loaded with modern features and passenger amenities. 

• Earlier, PM Modi flagged off the Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express train from Secunderabad Railway station. 

• The train will reduce the travel time between Secunderabad in Telangana and Tirupati in  Andhra Pradesh, by almost three and half hours and will be particularly beneficial for pilgrims. 

• On January 15, Modi had virtually flagged off the Vande Bharat train service between Secunderabad and the port city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, which was the first such service connecting the two Telugu-speaking states. 

Vande Bharat Express

• The ‘Make in India’ effort of Indian Railways has culminated into India’s first Semi High Speed Train — Vande Bharat Express. Speed, safety and service are the hallmarks of this train.

• Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, a Railways Production unit, has been the force behind a completely in-house design and manufacture, computer modelling and working with a large number of suppliers for system integration.

• This train has been introduced to upgrade maintenance technologies and methodologies and achieve improvement in productivity and performance of all Railway assets and manpower in which inter-alia would cover reliability, availability, utilisation and efficiency.

• It can achieve high speeds due to faster acceleration & deceleration and will reduce journey time by 25-45 per cent.

• In February 2019, PM Narendra Modi flagged off the maiden run of the train on New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route. 

• In the Union Budget 2022-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that 400 new-generation Vande Bharat Trains with better energy efficiency and passenger riding experience will be developed and manufactured during the next three years.

Vande Bharat 2.0

• Indian Railways introduced the new avatar — Vande Bharat 2.0 — with the first train being flagged off by the Prime Minister on September 30, 2022 from Gandhinagar to Mumbai.

• The Vande Bharat 2.0 is equipped with a range of advanced features over its predecessor. It will be able to attain maximum speed up to 180 kmph, and will be lighter, weighing 392 tonnes instead of the earlier 430 tonnes.

Key features of Vande Bharat 2.0 trains

• The Vande Bharat Express train has an intelligent braking system which enables better acceleration and deceleration.

• The Vande Bharat 2.0 trains are equipped with advanced state-of-the-art safety features including an indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System — KAVACH. There will be improved security with four emergency windows added in every coach. 

• The new coaches have Level-II safety integration certification for better train control. 

• The Vande Bharat Express has 16 air-conditioned coaches of which two are executive class coaches. The total seating capacity is 1,128 passengers. It is much more than the conventional Shatabdi rake of equal number of coaches, thanks to shifting of all electric equipment below the coaches and seats in the driving coach also.

• All coaches are equipped with automatic doors, GPS based audio-visual passenger information system, on-board hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes, and very comfortable seating. 

• It has better fire safety measures with aerosol-based fire detection and suppression system in all electrical cubicles and toilets. 

• There will be superior flood proofing for under-slung electrical equipment to withstand floods up to 650 mm height as compared to 400 mm earlier. 

• The train will also have four emergency lights in every coach in case of electric failure.

• It will be equipped with more advancements and improved features such as reaching the speed of 0-100 kilometres per hour in just 52 seconds, and a maximum speed up to 180 kilometres per hour. 

• It will also have a Wi-Fi content on-demand facility. Every coach is equipped with 32-inch screens providing passenger information and infotainment compared to 24-inch in the previous version. 

• Vande Bharat Express is also going to be environment-friendly as the ACs will be 15 per cent more energy efficient. With dust-free clean air cooling of the traction motor, the travel will become more comfortable. 

• Executive coaches have the added feature of 180-degree rotating seats.

• In the new design of Vande Bharat Express, a photo-catalytic ultraviolet air purification system is installed in the Roof-Mounted Package Unit (RMPU) for air purification. As recommended by Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO), Chandigarh, 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.

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