‘Over 2 cr people travelled by Vande Bharat trains since launch in 2019’

New Delhi: Vande Bharat trains, India’s maiden semi-high speed rail service, have carried more than two crore passengers till March 31 this year since the first set of two trains was flagged off between Delhi and Varanasi on February 15, 2019, officials said Monday.

The railways on Monday celebrated 171 years of existence as the first train ran on this day in 1853 between Mumbai and Thane.

The officials said the railways’ journey over the years has been stupendous as it successfully expanded its network to cover almost every nook and corner of the country and, today, Vande Bharat has become a new identity of a modernizing network.

Starting from two trains on one route five years ago, today 102 Vande Bharat trains are offering their services on 100 routes covering 284 districts in 24 states and Union Territories, according to data shared by the railways.

“The distance that the Vande Bharat trains covered in the financial year in 2023-24 is equivalent to taking 310 rounds of our planet Earth,” a railway official said.