North East India's first Vande Bharat Express train completes trial run, PM Modi to launch on Dec 30: WATCH Video

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The North East India's first-ever Vande Bharat Express train is all set for inauguration on December 30. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to flag off seventh Vande Bharat Express that will run between Howrah-New Jalpaiguri. To run under the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR), the first Vande Bharat Train semi-high-speed train of the NE India completed its trial run from Howrah-New Jalpaiguri station on Monday, an official statement said.

The Vande Bharat Express train will be the first express train between New Jalpaiguri (NJP), Siliguri to Kolkata after Shatabdi Express. Vande Bharat will have Passenger-friendly facilities like automatic doors and Wifi access.

Catch a glimpse of the successful trial run of the Vande Bharat Express, conducted between Howrah and New Jalpaiguri, West Bengal. pic.twitter.com/eXCjDNSrVc — Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) December 26, 2022

The statement added that the nation's seventh Vande Bharat train took around 8.30 hours to complete about 560km between NJP-Howrah during the first trial run today. A massive crowd was gathered at the station to get a glimpse of the train.

Shuvendu Chowdhury, Divisional Rail Manager (DRM) Katihar- Northeast Frontier Railway(NFR) at NJP said, the trial run was completed successfully and we are waiting for the final day for its service.

There is already a Shatabdi Express between Howrah and NJP. This train leaves Howrah in the afternoon and reaches NJP at around 10 p.m. The Vande Bharat Express will certainly attract tourists travelling to the Hills in north Bengal and the Dooars as well as the state of Sikkim. Particularly, those who do not wish to spend a night at Siliguri before travelling to their destinations.

Vande Bharat 2.0

The Vande Bharat 2.0 trains have the KAVACH (Train Collision Avoidance System) for enhanced safety in operations. There will be improved security with four emergency windows added in every coach. There will be four platform side cameras including rearview cameras outside the coach instead of two earlier.

The Vande Bharat Express, also known as Train 18, is a semi-high-speed, intercity, electric multiple-unit train operated by the Indian Railways. It is an advanced version of Vande Bharat compared to the earlier ones, being much lighter and capable of reaching higher speed in shorter duration. It accelerates to 100 km per hour in just 52 seconds.

Vande Bharat routes

PM Narendra Modi has flagged off all the seven Vande Bharat trains in India. The first Vande Bharat trains run between New Delhi - Varanasi, second between New Delhi - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (J&K), third between Gandhinagar and Mumbai, fourth between New Delhi to Amb Andaura in Himachal Pradesh, fifth between Chennai-Mysuru and sixth, being the latest, runs between Nagpur-Bilaspur.

With agencies inputs