Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Back In Service From Today

Bhubaneswar: The Vande Bharat services between Howrah and Odisha’s Puri resumed on Tuesday after the repair of the rake damaged by a ‘Norwester’ accompanied by a hailstorm.

According to reports, the damaged rake of the semi high-speed train was sent for repairs at the Santragachhi carshed immediately after it returned to Howrah late on Sunday evening. The repair work was completed by Monday evening.  “Vande Bharat  will leave Howrah at 6.10am as usual and depart from Puri station at 1.50pm.  All those whose trips were cancelled because of Monday’s break in services will get a 100 % refund,” South-Eastern Railway CPRO Aditya Kumar Chaudharytold TOI.

The train remain stranded for close to four hours between Baitarani Road and Manjuri Road stations in Odisha from around 4:30 pm on Sunday as the overhead equipment of the railway line was damaged after an uprooted tree fell on it during a thunderstorm. The front of the train was damaged by the tree and the services had to be cancelled on Monday.

“The pantograph was repaired. Its windscreen which was shattered beyond repairs was changed and so were the side windows which developed cracks. The rake’s nose, too, had to be repaired and its electrical wiring and some other parts like the cattle guard had to be replaced,” the CPRO added.

The 17th Vande Bharat Express, Odisha’s first semi-high-speed train connecting the pilgrim town of Puri to West Bengal’s Howrah, was virtually flagged-off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 18.