Vande Bharat crosses world's highest railway bridge in trial run

Indian Railways did a trial run on Saturday of the first Vande Bharat train running between Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (SVDK) railway station and Srinagar railway station.

The route goes over Anji Khad Bridge, India’s first cable stayed railway bridge and Chenab Bridge, the highest railway bridge in the world.

The train is designed to withstand the cold of Kashmir.

On January 23, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said several countries were interested in importing India’s semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains.

“Many have shown interest in Vande Bharat,” he said, adding that Indian origin people had told him how their kids in India were eager to travel on the train.

Launched on February 15, 2019, Vande Bharat Express is India’s first indigenous semi-high speed train and a flagship ‘Make in India’ project.

Its first journey was from New Delhi to Kanpur to Allahabad to Varanasi at 160 km/h.

In 2022-23, around 31.84 lakh passengers traveled on Vande Bharat trains and the overall occupancy was 96.62%.

These trains have modern amenities and advanced safety features like Kavach technology, Divyangjan toilets and Braille signage.

Indian Railways is also adding four new types of trains—Vande Bharat Chair Car, Vande Bharat Sleeper, Namo Bharat Train and Amrit Bharat Train to passengers.

Testing of Vande Bharat Sleeper train is almost over, data is being reviewed and production will start at Integral Coach Factory, Vaishnaw said.