Gandhinagar-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express rams into cattle in Gujarat

This is the fourth such incident involving the semi-high speed train on the route since it began operating two months ago. Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of Western Railway, said the incident occurred near level crossing gate no 87 between Udvada and Vapi around 6.23 pm. 

“There was a minor dent in the front portion with no operational issues. The dent will be attended to tonight,” he said. After a brief halt, the train resumed journey at 6.35 pm.

Earlier the train has suffered damage on three occasions due to collision with cattle on the tracks. On October 6, its front panel was damaged when it hit a herd of four buffaloes between Vatva and Maninagar railway stations. The next day (October 7), the train hit a cow near Anand. In another incident, the train hit a bull near Atul railway station in Gujarat. The indigenously designed and manufactured semi-high speed train is the third under the Vande Bharat series.

The fare for Mumbai-Ahmedabad journey by executive chair car will be ₹2,505, while that for chair car will be ₹1,385. The railways has rescheduled Mumbai-Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express to accommodate Vande Bharat Express. 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 and it has better riding comfort for passengers at 3.5 (riding index). The train has a Coach Control Management System for monitoring air-conditioning, communication and feedback to control centre/maintenance staff through GSM/GPRS. It is fitted with Passenger Information and Infotainment System in every coach, the official said. Equipped with automatic plug doors with sliding footsteps and touch-free sliding doors inside coaches, the seats inside the executive class are revolving. This is the first train with aeroplane-like bio-vacuum toilets with touch-free amenities and also has a 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. The coaches have emergency talk back units. The train has better flood proofing for under-slung electrical equipment that will withstand floods up to a height of 650 mm.

*With inputs from agencies