Train 18 Gets Spectacular Response After Its Launch; All Available Tickets Sold Out Within One Day

The maiden commercial run of the Vande Bharat Express has been met with an immense public response, with tickets on the premium train being totally sold out, reports Business Standard.

Seats on the train became available for booking just yesterday (Thursday, 14 February 2019). The Vande Bharat Express will operate five days a week on the Delhi-Varanasi route.

"The first commercial run of the train on February 17 is fully booked. The train is 100 per cent occupied on its to and fro journeys as of 11.15 am Thursday," stated a member of the Railway Board, Girish Pillai.

There are two types of tickets available on the train: the air-conditioned chair car ticket which is priced at Rs 1,760 and the executive class ticket which costs Rs 3,310.

The fares are noticeably dearer compared to other premium trains; the chair car ticket on it is 1.4 times dearer than on Shatabdi while the air-conditioned first class ticket is 1.3 times more expensive,

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who will be seated on the train during its inaugural run, has revealed that the tenedering process for another 30 such trains has already been initated.

The Vande Bharat Express was previously known as Train 18, and is India’s fastest passenger train yet, capable of reaching speeds up to 180 km/hour.