Modi flags off India’s fastest train

(Reporters Today/ Dev Mohanty) : Vande Bharat Express, India’s first semi-high speed train, was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday from the New Delhi railway station amid sombre mood in the backdrop of the terror attack in Pulwama. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and members of the Railway Board were also on board the train on its inaugural journey. “I am grateful to designers and engineers behind Vande Bharat Express which will take its first trip from Delhi to Varanasi today. With our sincerity and hardwork in the last 4.5 years we have tried to improve railways,” the Prime Minister said. The bookings for the train are open.

Vande Bharat Express will travel from Delhi to Varanasi in 9 hours and 45 minutes.  This includes stoppage time of 40 minutes each at Kanpur and Allahabad.

The train, with its plush purple interiors, has 16 air-conditioned coaches of which two are executive class. It has a seating capacity of 1,128 passengers.