PM Modi to flag off country’s first Vande Metro service between Ahmedabad-Bhuj in Gujarat

Ahmedabad, Sep 14 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the country’s first ‘Vande Metro’ service on Monday during his two-day visit to Gujarat, an official said.

The Ahmedabad-Bhuj Vande Metro is a fully unreserved air-conditioned train for which passengers can buy tickets from the counter shortly before its departure, Western Railway (Ahmedabad division) public relations officer Pradeep Sharma said on Saturday.

“It will accommodate 2,058 standing and 1,150 sitting passengers. WR carried out a trial of the service early this week,” he added.

According to WR officials, the Ahmedabad-Bhuj Vande Metro service will stop at nine stations and cover the 360 kilometre distance in 5 hours and 45 minutes at a top speed of 110 kilometres per hour.

It will depart from Bhuj at 5:05am and reach Ahmedabad Junction at 10:50am, they said.

The ‘Vande Metro’ concept is designed on the lines of the indigenous semi-high-speed train Vande Bharat service with fully air-conditioned coaches and the ‘KAVACH’ anti-collision system as well as other state-of-the-art features, they added.

On the first day of his two-day visit to Gujarat on Sunday, PM Modi will attend an event at Vadsar Air Force Station near Ahmedabad.

He will inaugurate the 4th edition of the Global Renewable Energy Investors Meet and Expo (RE-INVEST 2024) at Mahatma Mandir Convention Centre in Gandhinagar on Monday.

He will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs. 8,000 crores in Ahmedabad as well as launch the second phase of the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar metro rail service.