Mumbai-Ahmedabad: 96.70 Per Cent Occupancy On First Day Of Third Vande Bharat Express' Commercial Run On 1 October

A day after the launch of Vande Bharat Express from Gandhinagar, the return journey from Mumbai is showing almost houseful.

The occupancy is 96.70 per cent with the entire 104 seats of Executive Class and 982 out of 1019 Chair Car seats being booked from Mumbai to Gandhinagar on 1 October.

The 16-coach trainset has seating capacity of 1,123 and on the very first day of commercial operation it booked 1,086.

The third Vande Bharat Express equipped with most modern amenities is attracting visitors to Gujarat, famous for its Garba dance during Navratri, in hordes.

It was a pleasant ride for the occupants with maximum comfort level on the inaugural run of the new semi-high speed Vande Bharat train, manufactured at the ICF Chennai on 30 September.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also travelled in the train upto Ahmedabad after flagging off the premier service at Gandhinagar, appreciated the make-in-India efforts of ICF team involved in Vande Bharat.

Jayanthi, an electrical engineer at ICF, who apprised PM Modi a few details about the new train, was very excited about the interaction with the PM.

I am very happy that I had an opportunity to meet the PM on the train, said Jayanthi, involved in the making of Vande Bharat.

"He (PM) appreciated the efforts of the ICF," he added.

Besides siding doors, bio-vacuum toilets, Wi-Fi infotainment, a GPS-based passenger information system, quality food and higher speed among other added amenities, the new train also is also equipped with a small hammer near the seat, a first in Indian Railways, as a safety measure.

It is to be used to break the window in case of emergency, according to the instruction written behind the nearly one foot strong iron hammer.

The third Vande Bharat is expected to reach Ahmedabad in five and half hours while it would take nearly six hours to travel from Gandhinagar to Mumbai in the evening. The train can attain its maximum speed of 160 kmph in 142 seconds.

On its maiden journey, the sleeker, upgraded semi-high speed train ran at 130 kmph and covered a distance of 520 km between Gandhinagar and Mumbai in six hours and twenty minutes, including stoppages of five minutes each in Ahmedabad and Vadodara and a three-minute stoppage in Surat.

"This train attained 100 kmph in 52 seconds, which goes to show that it has better acceleration and deceleration due to which the travel time has reduced by 15 per cent,” Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer (PRO), Western Railways said.

Saree-clad hostesses from the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) greeted travellers as they boarded the train at the Ahmedabad railway station, giving a flight-like experience. Traditional Gujarati snacks were then served on board.

The train, which will run on all days of the week except Sunday, is divided into chair cars and executive class. With 16 CCTV-equipped coaches, the third Vande Bharat Express has been designed to run at a maximum speed of 160 kmph.

The fare is 40 per cent higher than that of regular mail express trains on this route—the chair car is priced at Rs 1,275, while the fare for the executive class is Rs 2,245.

It will depart from Gandhinagar at 2.05pm and reach Mumbai at 8.35pm. It will then depart from Mumbai at 6.10am the next day and reach Gandhinagar at 12.30pm.

The futuristic-looking train has nose cone-shaped driver’s cabs (compartments) on both ends, which facilitates quicker turnaround time at destinations. “Its aerodynamic design reduces the air drag,” Thakur said.

In addition to the washrooms being disabled-friendly, seat numbers are written on handles in Braille to assist visually impaired passengers.

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