“Vande Bharat Express flagged off by PM Modi

India’s first engine-less Semi-High Speed Train (SHST), “Vande Bharat Express” has been flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route train from the New Delhi Railway Station on 15th February 2019. Vande Bharat Express can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph and has travel classes like Shatabdi Train but with better facilities. It aims to provide a totally new travel experience to passengers. The Train will cover the distance between New Delhi and Varanasi in 8 hours and will run on all days except Mondays and Thursdays. All coaches are equipped with automatic doors, GPS based audio-visual passenger information system, on-board hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes, and very comfortable seating. All toilets are bio-vacuum type. The lighting is dual mode, viz. diffused for general illumination and personal for every seat. Every coach has a pantry with facility to serve hot meals, hot and cold beverages. The insulation is meant to keep heat and noise to very low levels for additional passenger comfort. The train has 16 air-conditioned coaches of which 2 are executive class coaches. The total seating capacity is 1,128 passengers.