Railways conduct trial run of first Vande Bharat train from Mata Vaishno Devi station to Srinagar

REASI (Jammu and Kashmir): The Indian Railways on Saturday conducted a trial run of the first Vande Bharat train from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (SVDK) railway station to Srinagar railway station.

The train will run through Anji Khad Bridge which is India’s first cable-stayed railway bridge and Chenab Bridge which is the highest railway bridge in the world. This train has been designed keeping in mind the cold climate conditions of the Kashmir valley.

#WATCH | Jammu and Kashmir: Indian Railways today started the trial run of the first Vande Bharat train from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Railway Station Katra to Srinagar

(Visuals from Srinagar Railway Station) pic.twitter.com/WjWjL5iZcl

— ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2025

On January 23, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that several countries had shown interest in importing semi-high-speed Vande Bharat trains from India. “Many countries have shown interest in Vande Bharat”, Vaishnaw said when asked if there were queries for the import of the train manufactured in India.

“And there is one interesting thing that some people who are of Indian origin say that when they were in India, their children say that they want to sit in Vande Bharat”, he added.

#WATCH | Jammu and Kashmir: Visuals of Vande Bharat train crossing the world’s highest railway bridge Chenab Rail Bridge

Indian Railways today started the trial run of the first Vande Bharat train from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Railway Station Katra to Srinagar. The train will also… pic.twitter.com/6IgVfxCgYk

— ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2025

Indian Railways launched India’s first indigenous semi-high-speed train Vande Bharat Express and it is regarded as a ‘Make in India’ success story. The first Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off on February 15, 2019, on the New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route, running at a speed of 160 kilometres per hour.

During the financial year 2022-23, approximately 31.84 lakh tickets were booked to travel on Vande Bharat trains. The overall occupancy of Vande Bharat trains during this period has been 96.62 per cent. These trains are equipped with top-tier amenities and advanced safety features, such as Kavach technology, accessible toilets for Divyangjan, and integrated Braille signage.

In India, there are four new types of trains — Vande Bharat Chair Car, Vande Bharat Sleeper, Namo Bharat Train, and Amrit Bharat Train. “With the constellation of these four trains, the passengers in our country will get good quality services”, Vaishnaw said. Testing of Vande Bharat Sleeper is almost complete, and the data is being analysed, before the actual production at Integral Coach Factory, the minister said. (ANI)