Modi flags off 9 Vande Bharat trains, says infra growth matching India's aspirations

New Delhi, September 24

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the speed and scale of infrastructure development matched the aspirations of 140 crore Indians as he flagged off nine Vande Bharat Express trains connecting religious and tourist destinations across 11 states.

With this, the number of semi-high speed trains has reached 34. The nine trains will provide faster connectivity across Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat. The trains will run on these routes: Udaipur-Jaipur, Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Vijayawada-Chennai (via Renigunta), Patna-Howrah; Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram, Rourkela-Bhubaneswar-Puri, Ranchi-Howrah, and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad.

PM Modi said the trains launched today would significantly improve connectivity and boost tourism across India. Stressing the importance of railways in the lives of common citizens, the Prime Minister slammed the previous governments for not making enough efforts for their modernisation and assured that the “day is not far when Vande Bharat will connect every part of the country”.

He also urged Railways employees to make every journey memorable for the passengers. In his address, the Prime Minister said the popularity of the Vande Bharat trains was rising constantly and more than 1.11 crore passengers had already travelled in them.

“The Indian Railways is the most trusted co-passenger of India’s poor and middle-class people. The number of people who travel in trains in one day is more than the population of many countries,” he said. “It is unfortunate that not much attention was given to modernise the Indian Railways. But now our government is working for the transformation of the Railways,” he said.

“I am confident that the changes taking place at every level in the Railways and society will prove to be an important step towards a developed India,” he added.

Governors, Chief Ministers, Union ministers and elected representatives were present at the nine railway stations from where the indigenously built semi-high speed trains were flagged off.

Upgraded Features

• Colour of seat in executive class coach changed from red to pleasant blue
• Seat reclination angle raised from 17.31 degrees to 19.37 degrees
• Improved accessibility of mobile charging point under seats
• Increase in wash basin depth to avoid water splashing
• Magazine bags for executive class coach-end seats
• Extended footrest