Train 18 aka Vande Bharat Express: The Express was being brought back to New Delhi from Varanasi for its first commercial run on Sunday when the breaks jammed in one of the last coaches. Uncertainty over its first commercial run on Sunday.
Image source: Prem Nath Pandey
A day after it was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Train 18 broke down early on Saturday, 200 kilometres outside Delhi.
The Vande Bharat Express aka Train 18 was being brought back to New Delhi from Varanasi for its first commercial run on Sunday when the brakes jammed in one of the last coaches. A few media sources were too aboard the train.
The jammed brakes have been fixed and the train is on the way to Delhi at 100 kmph, told media sources that the train is supposed to reach New Delhi by Saturday noon and is now fit for the commercial run on Sunday.
Much before the train came to a dead halt, the last coaches of the Train 18 started making a rattling sound. Suspicious loco pilots decreased the speed for some time. Smoke was noticed and a foul smell was felt in the last four coaches. Power went out in all the coaches and the engineers restarted the train at 10 kmph.
As the train rolled out, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said that by flagging off the train, the country’s fastest, India is sending out a message that that “India’s people and its armed forces do not cow down before terror”.
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