Patna: A Vande Bharat express will soon be running between Patna and Howrah. This will be the second Vande Bharat express originating from Bihar’s Patna junction. The train is likely to be flagged off for commercial run on August 15th.
On Saturday, the train conducted successful first trial and took around 6.30 hours to cover the destination about 532km far. It ran at the maximum speed of 130 kilometre per hour, and hence the fastest train on this route.
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Officials of the east central railway zone said that Patna-Howrah Vande Bharat express (22348/22347) is the 2nd generation semi high speed train, designed and manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Perambur, Chennai under the Make in India initiative.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to flag off the train remotely from New Delhi on August 15 along with three other similar trains. Earlier, he had flagged off Ranchi-Patna Vande Bharat express along with four other similar trains for different destinations on June 27.
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As per the proposal, the train is likely to depart Patna junction at around 8am and reach Howrah at 2.30 pm. The train is scheduled to commence journey from Howrah at around 3.55pm and return Patna at around 10.30pm.
A team of technical experts, engineers and other concerned officers of the railway went on the train during the train run for critical evaluation of all technical aspect during the run. The Patna-Howrah Vande Bharat express will have seven AC chair car and one executive chair car coaches. The coaches in aqua colour indicate AC Chair Cars and the coaches in Pink indicate AC executive chair cars. The train can run up to the speed of 160 kmph.
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So far, Janshatabdi express is the fasted train on Patna-Howrah route, which takes around 7.55 hours to reach the destination. Other trains take 9-15 hours to cover the distance. Meanwhile, railway sources said that the schedule related to time-table and fare etc. will be issued only after the completion of the trial process.
