Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat to be inaugurated on June 3

India’s semi-high-speed train Vande Bharat is soon to run in the 19th route from Mumbai to Goa. The rail ministry on Wednesday confirmed that the train service will be inaugurated on June 3 and the service would be available for the public from the next day onwards.

The first Vande Bharat Express was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15, 2019, between New Delhi and Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh. These trains are a leading example of the Make-in-India initiative. The avant-grade semi-high speed distributed power trains are indigenously designed and are being manufactured currently in Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai.

Meanwhile, sources said that ICF has already dispatched an eight car train to Madgaon. According to the rail ministry officials, these trains are meeting all the international safety and comfort-related standards including the Train Collision avoidance system (Kavach). Tested at a speed of 180 kmph, Vande Bharat Express is operating at a maximum speed of 160 kmph.

Currently, 36 services of Vande Bharat Trains have started on 18 routes. These trains have connected 22 states/ UTs — Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal, and more than 100 districts of the country which has helped to stimulate local economies and support small businesses in the areas it serves. Moreover, ministry data shows that the Vande Bharat Trains have covered 38, 43,934.12 km.

The newest Vande Bharat Express’s first trial run was held on May 17, from platform number 7 of Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus at 5:30 am and reached the Madgaon station in Goa at 12:50 pm. This train will take 45 minutes less time than the Tejas Express.