Some unknown miscreants pelted stones at the newly launched Bengaluru-Dharwad Vande Bharat Express in Karnataka on Wednesday. The incident occurred at 8:40 am when the train was passing between Kadur-Birur section at ‘KM 2017/500’, as per the railway officials. This semi-high speed train was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 27. It is the second Vande Bharat train in Karnataka. The first one runs between Mysuru and Chennai via Bengaluru.
The matter is under investigation by the Railway Protection Force (RPF).
The glasses of C5 coach at seat number 43 and 44 and EC-1 coach toilet were hit by the stones. The outer glass was damaged due to the stones. However, no injuries were reported.
A railway official told PTI that there is no breakthrough and the RPF is checking CCTV footages, while site investigation is also being conducted.
This is not the first case of stones being pelted at Vande Bharat Express trains. Last month, stones were pelted at the Dehradun-Delhi Vande Bharat train. A similar incident was seen in Kerala in May when the state’s first Vande Bharat train was pelted with stones.
Reports of Vande Bharat trains being pelted with stones came out from Visakhapatnam in January and April.
Today, India has over 25 Vande Bharat Express trains running across the length and breath of the country.
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off 5 new Vande Bharat trains from Bhopal. Uttar Pradesh will be welcoming its second Vande Bharat train on July 9 which will run between Gorakhpur and Lucknow. It will be maintained by the North Eastern Railway (NER) zone.