One day after India's first engineless Vande Bharat train was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, the semi-high speed 'Train 18' broke down in Tundla, Uttar Pradesh about 200 kilometres from the capital.
According to the technical staff, the train developed some technical problems with its brake systems at 5:30 AM on Saturday, February 16. However, the railways claimed that the breakdown happened due to cattle movement on the tracks.
Reports suggest that one of the animals from the cattle came under the wheels of the train which caused the brake systems of the last coach to fail. It will take at least six to eight hours to repair the faults.
The train was returning from Varanasi to New Delhi when the breakdown happened and the affected coach was separated from the train before it resumed its journey. It is scheduled for its first commercial journey on February 17, Sunday. Times of India reports that tickets were sold out within 24 hours of the sale going live.
The train was said to reach a speed of 180 kmph. It was built by Integral Coach Factory in Chennai but was built and assembled in Uttar Pradesh. The 16-coach train cost Rs 97 crores and took 18 months to build. Railways Minister Piyush Goyal was impressed with the train and had ordered a hundred more to cover short distance journeys across the country.
