Vande Bharat Express delayed on first commercial run, Railways cites 'fog

The delay took place a day after the train broke down on its way back to the capital from Varanasi following its inaugural non-commercial journey.

The Vande Bharat Express, India's first semi high-speed train, was delayed by more than an hour each way during its first commercial run, officials said on Monday, attributing the delay to "dense fog".

While travelling from Delhi to Varanasi on Sunday, the train, which was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15, was delayed by 1.25 hours. On its return journey, it was delayed by 1.48 hours, officials said.

"The train was late because of dense fog in the Ghaziabad-Tundla section. Due to this, to maintain security of passengers and safety, the train was run at a speed of 60kmph. This is normal during this time of the year. It was environmental conditions that delayed the train," said Northern Railway spokesperson Deepak Kumar.

After the fog dissipated, the train, which doesn't have a locomotive, ran at an average speed of 130kmph, officials said.

Due to foggy conditions, the train reached Varanasi Cantonment station at 3.25 pm instead of its scheduled arrival at 2 pm on Sunday.

It left for New Delhi at 4.25 pm on its return commercial journey.

The delay took place a day after the train broke down on its way back to the capital from Varanasi following its inaugural non-commercial journey.

In a detailed press release on Saturday night, railways said during the transportation back from Varanasi it was stopped at Chamraula station of National Capital Region, about 18 km after crossing Tundla station.

"There was an issue of communication between the last basic unit of 4 coaches and the rest of the train probably due to some external hit. Thereafter, safety features in the train applied brakes. The train was checked for faults and moved to Delhi," it said.

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Miscreants pelt stones at Train 18, damage India's first engineless train

Earlier in November, the first trial run of Train 18 was successfully conducted on tracks at Moradabad-Rampur section of Northern Indian Railways.

During the trial run of indigenously developed India's first engineless train, 'Train 18' between Agra and Delhi, some miscreants pelted stones at the Railways' fastest train damaging one of its windows.

The Chief Design Engineer and other officials were on board when the incident took place. "On Thursday speed trials were being conducted for Train 18 between Agra and New Delhi, with Srinivas, the Chief Design Engineer, Integral Coach Factory (ICF), among the inspecting crew on board, some miscreants from outside threw stones on the train, that damaged one of the windows of the Train 18 on one side," said GV Venkatesan, Public Relation Officer, ICF.

Condemning the act, Venkatesan appealed to the public not to vandalise railway properties. "Such act of vandalising the public property such as trains, railway stations, are condemnable, in particular, a prestigious brand new train such as Train 18.

Public are requested to desist from vandalising railway properties including trains, railway stations and defacing them. After all, it is the public property that belongs to them," he said.

Earlier in November, the first trial run of Train 18 was successfully conducted on tracks at Moradabad-Rampur section of Northern Indian Railways. During the trial run, the train was made to run at different speeds.

The India's fastest train ran, which will replace Shatabdi trains, ran at a speed of over 180 kmph during a trial run on a section of the Delhi-Rajdhani route.

Business Standard