Vande Bharat Express launch: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually flag off the eighth Vande Bharat train of India from Secunderabad to Visakhapatnam on the occasion of Makar Sankranti i.e. January 15.
The Prime Minister ‘temporarily postponed’ the brief visit to the state on January 19. Neither the BJP nor the Centre has cited any reason for the postponement of his visit to the state, the Indian Express reported.
Besides the train’s launch, the Prime Minister was also scheduled to address a public meeting at the Parade Grounds of Secunderabad. He was also expected to launch various developmental projects.
G Kishan Reddy, a Union minister, said that the inauguration of the high-speed train on the occasion of Makar Sankranti was a gift to the people in both the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. He noted that the Prime Minister would be launching the train at around 10 am on January 15.
The train will cover the entire distance in eight hours. The intermediate stops envisaged for the journey include Warangal, Vijayawada, Khammam and Rajahmundry.
Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaway and G Kishan Reddy will be present at the railway station in Secunderabad when the train is flagged off. The train reached Visakhapatnam on Wednesday evening. It is awaited at the Secunderabad for its maiden run on January 15.
As per the earlier plan, Modi was supposed to flag off the train from Secunderabad on January 19 and lay the foundation for a project to double the tracks between Mahabubnagar and Secunderabad, which is estimated to cost around Rs 1,231.
The Prime Minister was also scheduled to lay the foundation stone for a project to set up a wagon workshop at a cost of over Rs 500 million at a site near Warangal. The works on the railway station at Secunderabad are expected to cost around Rs 700 crores.
In other plans for the day, Modi was supposed to visit the IIT Hyderabad and unveil various projects that were worth over Rs 2,597 crores. Some of these include academic buildings, a research park, a knowledge center, a lecture hall, a health care complex and a guest house.