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Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 14
As the indigenously built semi-high speed Train 18 or Vande Bharat Express is set to be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow, the Indian Railways today said bookings for its first commercial run between Delhi and Varanasi on February 17 have started.
The Prime Minister’s Office in a statement said Modi would flag off the train from the New Delhi railway station and that Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and members of the Railway Board would be on board on the inaugural run.
The train will travel from Delhi to Varanasi in nine hours and forty-five minutes. This includes stoppage time of 40 minutes each at Kanpur and Allahabad, where there will be special programmes. At the New Delhi railway station, Modi will inspect the facilities in the train and address a gathering.
The train can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph and has travel classes like the Shatabdi with better facilities, giving a new travel experience to passengers.
It has 16 air-conditioned coaches of which two are executive class. The total seating capacity is 1,128 passengers, which is more than the conventional Shatabdi rakes on account of shifting of all electric equipment below the coaches and seats in the driving coach also.
Adding to the green footprint, the train has regenerative braking system that can save up to 30 per cent of electrical energy. As the bookings for the train have started, tickets can be bought over the counter or booked on irctc.co.in.