A new Vande Bharat express or ‘Train 18’ will run from New Delhi to Shri Vaishno Devi Katra (SVDK) from October 3.
A trial run was successfully carried on Saturday.
This new train will reach Katra in 8 hours instead of 12 hours like other trains. It will run at a maximum speed of 130 kmph due to speed restrictions on the route. However, it touched 180 kmph in the trial run.
According to Railway officials, the maximum permissible speed is decided by the condition of tracks, barricading along the tracks and the number of deaths on tracks, among a few other parameters. Along the Delhi-Katra, there is no barricading of tracks and this leads to cattle human beings crossing the tracks.
Train 18 has 16 self-propelled coaches which makes it the fastest accelerating train in India.
There are 2 executive chair car and 12 chair car coaches with separate disabled-friendly toilets and automatic lighting door system. Being a premium train, it also has vacuum toilets, diffused lighting, hands-free taps, dryers, mobile charging points for every seat and 360 rotatable seats in the executive class. There are CCTV cameras and LED screens giving info such as speed and next stoppage timing.
The train will have just 2-minute stoppages. Authorities have warned people not to get on the train to see off a passenger as the coach doors will close automatically. The train doesn’t have a chain pulling system. Instead, there is a button for assistance.
