The Indian Railways has successfully conducted the trial run of Vande Bharat Express between Howrah (HWH) and New Jalpaiguri (NJP). The trial run was conducted on Monday from platform number 22 at the HWH station, a day after its arrival in the state from Chennai.
It will take around 7.5 hours to cover a distance of 600km. The train departed from Howrah at 05:55 am and reached the NJP at 01:45 pm. The Vande Bharat is going to be the second express train between HWH and NJP after the Shatabdi Express.
It took around 8 hours and 20 minutes for the Shatabdi Express to complete the journey from HWH to NJP.
Taking to twitter, the Ministry of Railways said, “Catch a glimpse of the successful trial run of the Vande Bharat Express, conducted between Howrah and New Jalpaiguri, West Bengal.”
According to reports, the Vande Bharat Express with 16 coaches will leave the Howrah station at 06:00 am and will then reach the destination at 01:30 pm. It will leave the NJP at 02:30 pm, after a one-hour stopover and will reach HWH at 10 pm.
The blue and white coach train is expected to run six days a week.
Earlier, this month, the Ministry of Railways announced the introduction of the first semi-high speed passenger train service on the route.
Also Read: PM Modi to flag off West Bengal’s first Vande Bharat Express on Dec 30
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off West Bengal’s first and country’s seventh Vande Bharat Express on December 30, 2022.
The 16 coach train was manufactured at Chennai’s Integral Coach Factory (ICF). The train is likely to travel at a speed of 78kmph with a maximum speed of 160kmph. This new generation semi-high speed train’s fare is likely to be higher than Shatabdi Express.
The coaches of Vande Bharat Express are equipped with automatic doors, GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system, comfortable seats, LED screen to flash speed, and on-board hotspot Wi-Fi.
Meanwhile, the work on Kharagpur- Adityapur 3rd line project (132 km), part of HWH- Mumbai Trunk Route has achieved 82 percent completion.