Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has shared a picture of the newly launched Vande Bharat Express train passing through a tunnel in Maharashtra’s Lonavala. A magnificent view of a beautiful landscape is depicted in the picture. “Through the mighty ghats! #AamchiVande”, Vaishnaw tweeted along with the image. His tweet prompted a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said: “The beauty of nature and a marvel of technology as well as ‘Make in India’ in one frame. The Vande Bharat trains will benefit Maharashtra greatly.”
On Friday, Modi had flagged off two Vande Bharat trains – Mumbai-Solapur and Mumbai-Shirdi. The inauguration ceremony was in Mumbai with the railways minister, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis in attendance.
The Mumbai-Solapur Vande Bharat will cover 455 km in six hours and 30 minutes – nearly one hour quicker than the current rains. The Mumbai-Sainagar Shirdi Vande Bharat will take five hours and 25 minutes to cover the 343 km distance from the state capital to the temple town.
The Mumbai-Solapur is India’s ninth Vande Bharat train and the one to Sainagar Shirdi the 10th. The latter will also offer greater connectivity for pilgrims travelling to Akkalkot, Tuljapur, Pandharpur and Alandi, which is near Pune.
