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Vande Bharat Express navigates through two steepest ghats in India. Watch
- The Vande Bharat Express between Mumbai and Solapur is likely to run through the Bhor ghat (located between Karjat and Khandala on the way to Pune) and is expected to cover the distance of around 455 km in 6.35 hours
Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw has shared a couple of videos of the soon-to-be-introduced two new Vande Bharat Express trains which will be launched from Mumbai. The two new trains will operate on the Mumbai-Shirdi and Mumbai-Solapur routes. The routes consist of ghat(hilly) sections and till now required a banker engine(additional) to operate trains on this section. Additional locomotives, called `bankers', are used for pushing trains from behind from the Mumbai side in the ghat sections to prevent them from rolling back
However, the Vande Bharat Express which is a semi-high-speed train is undergoing trials in the ghat (hilly) sections on the outskirts of Mumbai to test its parking brakes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to launch Vande Bharat Express trains on Mumbai-Solapur and Mumbai-Shirdi routes on February 10 according to the reports. Mumbai-Solapur Vande Bharat Express The Vande Bharat Express between Mumbai and Solapur is likely to run through the Bhor ghat (located between Karjat and Khandala on the way to Pune) and is expected to cover the distance of around 455 km in 6.35 hours.
Mumbai-Shirdi Vande Bharat Express The Mumbai-Shirdi train is expected to run through the Thal ghat (in Kasara area near Mumbai) and cover a distance of 340 km in 5.25 hours. With a gradient of 1:37 (for every 37-metre run there is a rise of 1 metre), both Bhor and Thal ghats are among the toughest Railway ghat sections in the county, officials said.
The Vande Bharat trains on both the routes will be run without attaching bankers. Instead, they will have parking brakes which will stop the train from rolling down on a gradient.
About 25 km-long Bhor ghat (also called Khandala ghat) is spread between Karjat and Khandala stations, while the 14 km-long Thal ghat (also known as Kasara ghat) is spread between Kasara and Igatpuri sections. Both the high gradient ghats have difficult terrain with multiple tunnels and high via-ducts.
The indigenously designed train set of Vande Bharat Express is equipped with state-of-the-art passenger amenities. It will provide a faster, more comfortable and more convenient travel experience to rail users.
The introduction of the train will help boost tourism in the region and provide a comfortable and faster mode of travel. This will be the eighth Vande Bharat train to be introduced in the country and is an advanced version compared to the earlier ones, being much lighter and capable of reaching higher speeds in a shorter duration. Vande Bharat 2.0 is equipped with more advancements and improved features such as reaching a speed of 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in just 52 seconds, and a maximum speed of up to 180 kilometres per hour. The improved Vande Bharat Express will weigh 392 tons when compared to the previous version of 430 tons.
It will also have a Wi-Fi content on-demand facility. Every coach has 32” screens providing passenger information and infotainment compared to 24” in the previous version. Vande Bharat Express will also be environmentally friendly as the ACs will be 15 per cent more energy efficient. With dust-free clean air cooling of the traction motor, travel will become more comfortable. A side recliner seat facility provided only to Executive Class passengers earlier will now be made available for all classes. Executive Coaches have the added feature of 180-degree rotating seats.
In the new design of Vande Bharat Express, a photo-catalytic ultraviolet air purification system is installed in the Roof-Mounted Package Unit (RMPU) for air purification. As recommended by Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO), Chandigarh, this system is designed and installed on both ends of RMPU to filter and clean the air free from germs, bacteria, viruses etc. coming through fresh air and return air.
*With agency inputs
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First Published:6 Feb 2023, 06:50 AM IST
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