Varanasi-bound Vande Bharat suffers jammed wheels, 'flat tyre'

New Delhi: The New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat Express was taken out of operation on Saturday after it suffered a snag in a traction motor that jammed its wheels and damaged their perfect roundness, a situation officials described as "flat tyre."

The officials said the semi-high speed train left New Delhi station at its scheduled time of 06.00 AM but it had to be withdrawn at Khurja station in Uttar Pradesh, just after travelling about 90 km.

All the 1,068 passengers had to be deboarded and shifted to a Shatabdi Express rake brought from Delhi for their onwards journey, which started around 12.40 pm.

"Varanasi Vande Bharat rake (Train no. 22436) has suffered a failure due to bearing defect in Traction Motor of C8 coach between Dankaur and Wair stations of North Central Railway," the Railways said in a statement. "The bearing jam was rectified with assistance of NCR team. However, due to development of a flat tyre of 80 mm, the train has been moved at a restricted speed of 20 kmph up to Khurja...A detailed investigation of the failure will be done after taking the rake back to maintenance depot,'' the statement said.

A traction motor is an electric motor used for the propulsion of a system such as locomotives, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple units.