NEW DELHI: India’s indigenously-built first semi-high-speed Vande Bharat trains are in news for the wrong reasons for the past three days. After two recent reported incidents of cattle hitting the train in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad region on Thursday and Friday, the rake of the Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat train on Saturday developed an abrupt jam in its wheels due to a technical glitch in its bearing in the ‘Traction Motor’(TM) of C-8 coach. According to sources, the New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat train developed the defect near Khurja in UP between Dankaur and Wair stations on Saturday.
The defect in the bearing of the traction motor halted the train for four hours. Later, the passengers of the Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat train were shifted to Shatabdi express at Khurja station and sent to their destinations. As soon as the news of the defect was reported to the ministry, the entire lot of railway officials in the concerned zone went into a tizzy.
“It is the third consecutive incident of disruption reported in the operations of the train in the past three days,” remarked a senior railway official, preferring anonymity. Acting swiftly, the team of technical experts of railways reached the spot and rectified the defect that occurred in the train. But, due to the development of a flat tyre of 80mn, the train was further moved at the restricted speed of 20kmph to Khurja. The railway sent a replacement rake from New Delhi. A joint team of six officials from the Northern Railway and the North Central Railway has been assigned the task of taking details of failure from the rake after the train was taken back to the maintenance department.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the second New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat express train on February 15 in 2019 for its inaugural run. The first commercial run of the New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat train started on February 17 on the Delhi-Varanasi rote via Kanpur and Prayagraj. The first Vande Bharat train runs between New Delhi and Katra.
HALTED FOR HOURS
The defect in the bearing of the traction motor halted the train for four hours. Later, the passengers of the Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat train were shifted to Shatabadi express at Khurja station and sent to their destinations