Now, Varanasi Vande Bharat Express suffers 'flat tyre'; passengers shifted to Shatabdi train

Lucknow: A day after buffalos hit on Ahmedabad-Mumbai route, technical fault in Vande Bharat express developed and movement was delayed on Delhi-Varanasi track on Saturday. Despite repeated efforts of the technical staff of the railway department, the fault could not be repaired and a total of 1068 passengers on board were shifted to Shatabdi express to take them to Varanasi.

The incident occurred on Monday morning when the Vande Bharat left Delhi at 6.00 am and at 6.38 am when it crossed Dadri station of Central Railway, the point man Shazeb saw some friction in the seventh coach of the train. He reported to higher officials of break jam in the coach after which it was stopped and checked at the next station. The technical staff of the railway found break binding in coach number eight and repaired it. Once again, at the Dankaur station, the stationmaster Brijesh Kumar noticed something unusual in the same coach and the train was stopped. The repairing staff found some fault in the traction motor, which was removed by using a gas cutter from the nearby Khurja railway station. Due to this, the train was delayed for another two hours and departed at 9.25 at a restricted speed. However, this too did not work and after finding a flat tyre, the Vande Bharat was stopped again at the next station Bair from where it was brought to Khurja station at the speed of 20 kms per hour.

With the problem in the movement and seeing the security of the passengers, a new rack of Shatabdi Express was brought from Delhi. The passengers of Vande Bharat were shifted to Shatabdi and the train departed from Khurja station at 12.57 PM on Saturday causing a delay of more than four hours.

What happened in the last two days?

The newly-inaugurated Vande Bharat Express train between Mumbai and Gandhinagar on Friday hit a cow near Anand in Gujarat while on its way to the state capital of Maharashtra.

The incident took place at 3.49 pm between Kanjari and Anand stations, about 433 km from Mumbai, said Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of Western Railway. All the passengers were safe, he added.

The train resumed journey within ten minutes after halting however it was not clear immediately if the cow survived the accident.

While, on Thursday, four buffaloes were killed after being hit by the train on its way to Gandhinagar from Mumbai between Vatva and Maninagar railway stations. Its nose panel had to be replaced overnight due to the damage.

The nose panel on the other end suffered a dent in Friday's incident.

What Union Railway Minister said?

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that collisions with cattle on the tracks were unavoidable. The train, which can reach the top speed of 160 kmph, has been designed keeping the possibility in mind, he added.