Hindustan Times | PM flags off Guj-Maha Vande Bharat express

Oct 01,2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off the Gujarat-Mumbai Vande Bharat express train at the Gandhinagar station and travelled on the train to Ahmedabad.

This will be the third Vande Bharat train in the country; the other two run between New Delhi-Varanasi and New Delhi-Katra.

Addressing a gathering in Ahmedabad, Modi said, “Today is a big day for India of the 21st century, for urban connectivity and for Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

The PM said air travellers would also like to take a ride in the train owing to its good quality sound-proofing.

“The journey between the two big cities of Ahmedabad and Mumbai will be more comfortable while also reducing the time of travel. An express train takes around eight hours to reach Mumbai from Ahmedabad, whereas a Shatabdi train takes around seven hours. However, this Vande Bharat express will take a maximum of five and a half hours to complete the journey from Gandhinagar to Mumbai,” Modi said.

Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel, governor Acharya Devvrat, Union minister of railways Ashwini Vaishnav, Union minister of housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, Member of Parliament CR Patil, Union minister of state for railways Darshana Vikram Jardosh and mayor of Ahmedabad Kirit Parmar were also present on the occasion.

The new Vande Bharat train will run six times a week and passengers will have to pay ₹2,650 (including GST) in the executive class and ₹1,440 to travel by chair car.

Modi interacted with the technicians and engineers of the Vande Bharat coaches. Addressing the locals, the PM said with changing times, it is necessary to continuously modernise cities. He said the transport system in cities should have seamless connectivity where one mode of transport supports the other.

Talking about Metro connectivity in the country, Modi said, “In the last eight years, in more than two dozen cities either Metro has started its operations, or its work is in an advanced stage.”

Modi said that for the first time, a 32km stretch has been operationalised in one go in the history of the Metro.

“Route planning for the Metro was done while keeping the needs of the poor and the needy in mind,” Modi said. He also mentioned the government’s Udey Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme that connects dozens of smaller cities by air.

The PM stressed that it was due to the “double-engine government” that all clearances and other permissions for Metro projects were quick, enabling faster completion of projects.Targeting the Opposition, Modi said negligible amount of work was done by the central governments in the past, and the contribution of taxpayers was used only for political interests.

“There was a time when announcements regarding infrastructure were made keeping in mind electoral gains and losses. The double-engine government has changed this thinking,” Modi said.

Speaking about developments made in the railway network, Modi highlighted that a large part of the country’s railway network has been freed from unmanned gates.

“Once the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors are ready, the speed of goods trains will also increase and delays in passenger trains will be reduced,” Modi said.