On Thursday (6 October), the new Vande Bharat train between Mumbai Central and Gandhinagar struck cattle on tracks in Gujarat, damaging the train's nose made up of fiber-reinforced plastic.

The minor accident is reported to have happened near the Gairatpur-Vatva station, not far from Ahemdabad, at around 11:15 am. 

However, no functional parts of the train were damaged in the incident. Within 8 minutes of the carcasses being removed, the train moved, and it arrived at Gandhinagar on schedule.

The Nose Cone Cover of the front coach was replaced with a new one in the Mumbai Central depot during the maintenance, and the train has been put back into service without any extra downtime.

Reports said the train was repaired within a day.

We're taking all actions to prevent such types of incidents in the future, said chief public relations officer (CPRO) of the Western Railways. 

"The nose cover is made to withstand impacts without passing them along to the train's working components. As a result, it is designed to be sacrificial and so is replaceable," a railway official explained, reports Hindustan Times.

Indian Railways keeps a sufficient number of spare nose cones on hand.

According to Western Railway CPRO, they will install fences along the Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad segment in order to boost train speed to 160 kmph and prevent similar events in the future.

The fencing project will likely be finished by March 2024.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Vande Bharat train service between Mumbai and Gandhinagar on 30 September.