What are Indian Railways' Train 18 and Train 20? Know their connection to Vande Bharat Express; they were launched in...
The Vande Bharat Express has emerged as India's most favorite train in short span of time. But did you know that the semi high-speed train was originally conceived as Train 18, later renamed to Train 20, and ultimately became the Vande Bharat Express upon its launch on February 15, 2019. What was Train 18?
The popular train we know today as Vande Bharat Express was originally conceived as Train 18 in 2017. Train 18 was so named because the Indian Railways had initially planned to launch it in 2018.
The Narendra Modi government aimed to build a passenger train that was faster and more advanced than the Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express. Train 18 was India's first engineless train completely based on indigenous technology, designed and manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai. How Train 18 became Vande Bharat?
After completion of trial runs, Train 18 was ready for commercial launch, and was renamed as Vande Bharat Express to reflect its Indianness. The Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15, 2019, between New Delhi and Varanasi, and embarked on its first commercial journey on February 17 that year. What is Train 20?
Train 20 is upgraded version Train 18 or Vande Bharat, which will have sleeper coaches designed for longer journeys. Commonly known as the Vande Bharat sleeper train, Train 20 will have 16 coaches, which the railways plans to increase to 24 in the near future, according to officials.
The Vande Bharat sleeper train will have a capacity of 823 passengers, with 67 sleeper berths, and all 16 coaches will be air-conditioned, they said. Why Vande Bharat Express train is so popular?
The semi-high speed medium-distance Vande Bharat Express trains have revolutionized train travel in India since their commercial launch on February 15, 2019. The state-of-the-art Vande Bharat Express trains provide unrivalled comfort and security to travelers, connecting various busy hubs in the country in a seamless manner.
The Vande Bharat Express train, which has an operational speed of up to 130 km per hour, is designed for comfort and efficiency, and boasts modern amenities like automatic sliding doors and CCTV cameras for added security.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Modi inaugurates long-delayed Yellow Line of Bengaluru Metro, flags off Vande Bharat to Belagavi
Bengaluru's long wait for the Yellow Line of Namma Metro finally ended on Sunday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 19.15-km corridor linking R.V. Road to Bommasandra. The Prime Minister also flagged off the Vande Bharat Express between Bengaluru and Belagavi, along with two other Vande Bharat services launched virtually. The Yellow Line, a key metro link connecting the city's IT hub in Electronics City and expected to significantly ease traffic congestion at bottlenecks like the Silk Board junction, has been plagued by delays since construction began in 2017. Originally envisioned in the 2011 Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the project was initially scheduled for completion by December 2021. However, setbacks including protracted land acquisition, disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and delays in rolling stock supply from Chinese manufacturer CRRC Nanjing pushed the timeline by nearly four years. A packed schedule for the Prime Minister Mr. Modi arrived in Bengaluru on Sunday morning at HAL Airport and then travelled by helicopter to the Indian Air Force Training Command in the city, where he was received by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. His first stop was the Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) Railway Station in Majestic, where he flagged off three Vande Bharat Express trains, the KSR Bengaluru–Belagavi service, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra–Amritsar service, and the Nagpur (Ajni)–Pune service, the latter two launched virtually. Following the event, the Prime Minister proceeded to Ragigudda Metro Station to inaugurate the Yellow Line. There, he flagged off the inaugural service, tried out the QR code-enabled ticket vending machines, and boarded the metro to Electronic City. Speaking to The Hindu, a Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) official said the train was piloted by a woman loco pilot. 'Schoolchildren, metro officials, and some members of the public were also onboard, and Mr. Modi interacted with them during the journey,' the official said, adding the commercial operation to be starting from Monday. At the end of his metro ride to Infosys Foundation Konappana Agrahara Metro Station, the Prime Minister moved to the IIIT Auditorium in Electronics City Phase 1. There, he laid the foundation stone for Namma Metro's Phase 3, also known as the Orange Line, and addressed a gathering. Phase 3 to expand network to 222 km Phase 3 will be fully elevated and is planned to serve underserved areas along Magadi Road and the western portion of the Outer Ring Road (ORR). Once completed in 2029, it is projected to accommodate 7.85 lakh daily commuters and will extend Bengaluru's metro network to 222.2 km, according to BMRCL officials. The project has cleared all mandatory hurdles, receiving Union Cabinet approval in August 2024. Political slugfest ahead of the launch The inauguration also became a stage for political one-upmanship. At Ragigudda Metro Station, Congress supporters raised slogans in favour of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar. Hours before the inauguration, Mr. Shivakumar accused the BJP-led Central government of contributing only 20% towards the cost of the Yellow Line, claiming the State government bore the remaining 80%. In certain cases, he said, the Centre's contribution was as low as 11%. Speaking to reporters, he urged the Prime Minister to sanction at least ₹1 lakh crore for Bengaluru's development, stating that the State government had funded the entire land acquisition despite the Centre being expected to share 50% of the cost. 'Even though Bengaluru is the country's second-highest tax-paying city, the grants we receive are minimal,' he said, adding that Ahmedabad receives a 20% share of tax allocations compared to Bengaluru's 10%. 'We should be treated like other major cities and considered alongside the national capital.' Mr. Shivakumar also criticised BJP MPs from Karnataka, alleging they had failed to secure meaningful grants for the State. 'Posting on X and appearing in photos is not an achievement. BJP MPs should focus on bringing funds instead of playing politics,' he said. A vital corridor Built at a cost of ₹7,610 crore, the Yellow Line adds 16 stations to Namma Metro's network, expanding the operational length to 96 km. The fully elevated line incorporates the city's first driverless train technology, though services will initially be operated by loco pilots. BMRCL officials expect the Yellow Line to carry over 2.5 lakh passengers daily once the full fleet of trains is delivered and operational. The corridor integrates with major metro lines at key junctions: R.V. Road (Green Line), Jayadeva Hospital (Pink Line), and Central Silk Board (Blue Line, Phases 2A & 2B). Another notable feature is its integration with the city's first double-decker flyover between Silk Board Junction and Ragigudda Metro Station, designed to ease one of Bengaluru's most congested stretches. The Yellow Line is expected to bring much-needed relief to thousands of employees working in Electronic City, a major IT cluster hosting several multinational companies. By offering a direct metro connection from the southern residential areas to the IT hub, the line could significantly cut commuting times, reduce dependence on private vehicles, and ease pressure on the city's overburdened road network. Delayed project When construction began in 2017, expectations were high that the Yellow Line would be operational within four years. However, the project encountered several roadblocks. Land acquisition delays slowed initial progress, while the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted labour supply, construction schedules, and logistics. A major blow came from delays in receiving rolling stock from CRRC Nanjing, the Chinese manufacturer contracted to supply the train. In 2019, CRRC was awarded a ₹1,578-crore contract to supply 216 metro coaches, with the condition that it establish a manufacturing facility in India, a commitment the company failed to meet. This non-compliance significantly slowed the project, prompting the BMRCL to issue multiple notices to CRRC and even consider invoking a ₹372-crore bank guarantee. To break the deadlock, CRRC entered into a partnership with Kolkata-based Titagarh Rail Systems Limited, which allowed train deliveries to resume. At present, the Yellow Line has only three train sets in operation. A fourth set is en route from the Titagarh facility and is expected to be delivered to Bengaluru Metro by mid-August, officials said.
Mint
4 hours ago
- Mint
India may need to take a hard decision on Himalayan pilgrimage spots
It's one of the world's fastest-growing tourist sites, attracting more visitors than the Statue of Liberty, the Tower of London, or Pompeii. It's also one of the locations most at risk from devastating natural disasters as our planet warms. The Char Dham Yatra, a circuit of four of the most sacred Hindu sites in the foothills of the Himalayas, has grown in recent years to become one of the country's biggest annual pilgrimages. These hills have also become the site of a grimmer spectacle: Flash floods and landslides, as unchecked development in rapidly-thawing mountain valleys turns ever-intensifying rainstorms into avalanches of mud, rock and water. In the Indian state of Uttarakhand, at least four people died and dozens more were feared trapped or lost after one such cloudburst last week swept away much of the village of Dharali. Also Read: India's disaster risk financing needs to evolve as new options emerge There's an inevitability about the location. The Char Dham Yatra is considered sacred because it takes pilgrims to shrines associated with the many tributaries of the Ganga river, which rises in Gangotri, just upstream from the latest disaster. Those waters in turn are fed by steep-sided river valleys, and ultimately by glaciers that have reportedly shrunk by about 40% since pre-industrial times. In 2013, flash floods killed more than 6,000 people after a glacier above the pilgrimage town of Kedarnath gave way. In 2021, another flood near Badrinath, another town on the Char Dham circuit, left more than 200 dead. Not too far away, slow-moving subsidence in Joshimath, a gateway to Badrinath, has left about a fifth of buildings uninhabitable since ground fissures started opening in 2023. With less than 1% of India's population, the state of Uttarakhand consistently uses up about 10% of the country's budget for natural disaster relief. A warming climate that causes glaciers to melt faster and clouds to carry more water provides ample explanation for this rising toll. Also Read: Mint Quick Edit | Uttarakhand flash flood: Climate's the big culprit But, as with wildfires in California and hurricanes in Florida, unconstrained development plays a role as well, putting more and more humans and buildings in the path of the floodwaters. The pilgrimage only exists in its current form thanks to concrete and asphalt. The isolated mountain shrines were little visited until the 1962 War between China and India, after which New Delhi started building more roads to improve military access to a disputed border just 30km or so from this week's disaster site. Visitor numbers have since soared as growing incomes and better transport links have improved access. That has been turbocharged by what may be interpreted as state patronage of the Char Dham pilgrimage and how frequently its sites catch the public eye. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has visited the mountain shrines multiple times. India has a budget of $9.8 billion for road and railway projects linking the four pilgrimage spots. What concrete and asphalt led development could do to the fragile mountain landscape has been a matter of concern. Building roads, railways, hotels, restaurants and shops to serve the booming tourist trade results in deforestation and the dumping of excavated earth into river valleys. That accelerates the path of rainfall from the clouds into the narrow channels that carry it away downstream, increasing the risk of damaging floods. Also Read: India's urban climate crisis is the result of our own policy failures Environmental degradation is an old story. Uttarakhand lost about 0.8% of its forest cover in the decade through 2023. Cutting roadways into slopes without extensive engineering to stabilize the soil also leaves them vulnerable to landslides. Nearly a quarter of the state is at high to very high risk of natural disasters, according to a study in June by academics at Shiv Nadar University in Uttar Pradesh. There are ways to limit this damage, but they are not the paths the government seems to be pursuing. The highway is being built in the interest of military plans, on a tight budget, so that mountainous zones can be reached by Indian forces. But if corners are cut, it would increase the chances of floods and landslides. Illegal construction work, which is rife as tourist rupees pour in, can be prevented by satellite monitoring—so long as officials aren't getting kickbacks to turn a blind eye. Most of all, though, India needs to limit visitor numbers, as authorities in other countries have done at other environmentally fragile sites such as Machu Picchu and Mount Fuji. Pushing back against religious tourism is a move that some observers argue the Indian government may not be inclined to make. Given the need to secure the lives of religious devotees, however, the government may have to start turning back some pilgrims. ©Bloomberg The author is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering climate change and energy.
Hans India
5 hours ago
- Hans India
PM to launch Yellow Line Metro, Vande Bharat Express today
Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Bengaluru on Sunday to inaugurate the much-awaited Yellow Line of Bangalore Metro, and the Vande Bharat Express train between Bengaluru and Belagavi. As per the itinerary shared by the Chief Minister's Office, Modi will participate in three events during his nearly four-hour visit to the city. On landing at the HAL Airport here at 10.30 am, the Prime Minister will travel by helicopter and road to the KSR Bengaluru (city) railway station, where he will flag off Vande Bharat Express trains between KSR Bengaluru-Belagavi. He will also virtually flag off two more Vande Bharat Express trains between Amritsar-Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katri, and Ajni (Nagpur)-Pune. Modi will then travel by road to the RV Road (Ragigudda) metro station on the Yellow Line. Between 11:45 to 12:50 he will be flagging off Yellow Line (reach 5) and take a metro ride to the Electronic City station. From there Modi will travel to the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Bengaluru, where at the institute's auditorium, he will be laying the foundation stone for Bangalore metro phase-3 and officially inaugurating the yellow line from RV Road (Ragigudda) to Bommasandra station. He will then travel by helicopter to the HAL Airport and fly back to Delhi at 2.45 pm. The 19.15 km yellow line from RV Road to Bommasandra of Bangalore metro with 16 stations has been built at the cost of Rs 5,056.99 crore. According to officials, the line is expected to ease traffic congestion in several heavily congested corridors like Hosur Road, Silk Board Junction, and Electronics City Junction. The Metro Phase 3, also known as the Orange Line for which the PM will be laying the foundation, will be 44.65 km and it will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 15,611 crore.
