Vande Bharat rams into bull, front panel damaged

New Delhi, October 29

The Mumbai-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Superfast Express rammed into a bull near the Atul railway station in Gujarat on Saturday morning, in the third such incident since the launch of the service on September 30 that left the train’s front panel damaged. The train halted for 15 minutes after hitting the bull that had strayed on the track around 8.20 am but all the passengers were safe, said Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of Western Railway.

The train’s front panel was damaged and the underbelly equipment of its first coach got dented. “There is no damage to the train, except to the nose cone cover of the front coach, which is the driver’s coach. The train is running smoothly,” Thakur said.

The damaged panel would be replaced once the train reached Mumbai, he said. On October 6, the train, which has a maximum speed of 130 kmph, ran over four buffaloes between Vatva and Maninagar stations in Gujarat on its way to Gandhinagar from Mumbai. Its nose panel had to be replaced. The next day (October 7), the train hit a cow near Anand in Gujarat while on its way to Mumbai.

The indigenously designed and manufactured semi-high speed train, a third under the Vande Bharat series, was flagged off by PM Narendra Modi on September 30.

Third such incident

This is the third such incident since the launch of the service on September 30 that left the train’s front panel damaged. All passengers in the train were safe, an official said.