All coach seats are recliners but the executive coaches has an added feature of 360-degree rotating seats. (@RailMinIndia/Twitter)
Several activists and railbuffs have raised a red flag over the presumed timing of the Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru Vande Bharat Express, the first semi-high-speed, electric multiple-unit train in south India.
They fear that the train’s timing will clash with that of Shatabdi Express, which plies the same route.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to flag off the Vande Bharat Express — the fifth in the country — on Friday, 11 November.
The Railways on Monday, 7 November conducted a successful trial run of the train in both directions.
The train zoomed out of Dr MGR Chennail Central railway station at 5.50 am and reached Mysuru at 12.30 pm. It stopped at Katpadi and KSR Bengaluru before speeding off to Mysuru.
The train later left Mysuru at 1.05 pm and reached Chennai at 7.35 pm.
Trial run of South India’s first Chennai-Mysore Vande Bharat Express started from Chennai MG Ramachandran Central Railway station today.
Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi Ji to inaugurate the 5th edition of Vande Bharat Express train on November 11. @RailMinIndia pic.twitter.com/GKZUkOSdpU— Office of Raosaheb Patil Danve (@raosaheboffice) November 7, 2022
South India to get its first Vande Bharat soon!
Trial run of Vande Bharat Express between Chennai and Mysuru conducted successfully. pic.twitter.com/HIWxUgLcwy
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) November 7, 2022
According to the South-Western Railways (SWR), the trial run was conducted to familiarise the onboard and operating crew with the technical features, the working of the train set, routes and safety measures.
General managers of SWR and Southern Railway, divisional railway managers of Chennai, Bengaluru and Mysuru divisions, and other senior officials and staff of the Southern and South Western Railway were onboard during the trial run.
The Vande Bharat trains are lighter and faster. These trains can touch 100 kmph from zero in 52 seconds, and reach a maximum speed of 160 kmph.
But due to the gradient after Jolarpettai, the train takes more time to climb, affecting its speed. With restrictions on speed, the Vande Bharat Express in the south will be the slowest in the country.
Many railway activists and railbuffs have expressed their disappointment over the near overlapping schedules of the Vande Bharat and Shatabdi Express.
▫️Why couldn’t Vande Bharat Express start late afternoon or early evening?
▫️Why can’t one train start from Chennai and the other from Mysore?
Rail buffs have more ideas than craven railway officers who are now fully devoted to creating photo-ops. @DrmMys @DrmChennai pic.twitter.com/zvSuTFd6i6
— churumuri (@churumuri) November 3, 2022
“The timings, at the moment, make no sense, with Shatabadi and other trains running along the same route around the same time. Currently, there are no trains from Bengaluru to Chennai early in the morning,” Sanjeev V Dyamannavar, a traffic expert told South First.
Several others suggested a change in the timings of the trains.
Early evening 5pm or 4:30 is a good time for IT employees/ business people or any other employees… please think about it.. before it was a failure @DrmChennai @drmsbc @DrmMys @GMSRailway @SWRRLY
— ananth (@ananthnani) November 4, 2022
Interestingly, the South-Western Railway is yet to finalise Vande Bharat’s schedule. “The timings are not notified yet and no comments can be made until a final timing is decided by the ministry. This was just the first trial run and nothing is still confirmed”, Aneesh Hegde, Public Relations Officer of the SWR told South First.
The railway authorities are yet to announce the train fare too. “We are waiting for the notification from the ministry. Once we the notification, it will be up on the ISRTC website,” Hegde added.
The semi-high-speed train is equipped with advanced state-of-the-art safety features, including an anti-collision system and an indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System called KAVACH.
It also has four emergency windows in each coach, four platform side cameras instead of just two, and rearward cameras outside the coach. Furthermore, it offers an on-demand Wi-Fi connectivity-enabled infotainment system and a 32-inch LCD screen in every coach.
As per the Ministry of Railways, the air inside the train gets filtered through a photo-catalytic ultraviolet purification system. It filters and cleans the air of germs, bacteria, viruses, etc., to the extent of 99 percent.
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