West Bengal’s 4th Vande Bharat Express train reaches Howrah amid fanfare

Howrah (West Bengal) [India], September 25 (ANI): The Howrah-Patna Vande Bharat Express train, which was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually, reached the Howrah Junction on Sunday. 

The fourth semi-high-speed train of West Bengal was among the nine Vande Bharat Express, which were flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. 

The other three Vande Bharat Express trains of West Bengal are Howrah-New Jalpaiguri, Howrah-Puri and New Jalpaiguri-Guwahati, which were flagged off on December 30 (last year), May 18, 2023, and May 29, 2023 respectively.

People welcomed the Vande Bharat on its arrival at the Howrah Junction by clicking pictures and beating dhol beats.   

Passengers thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing indigenous trains equipped with state-of-the-art facilities. 

“I thank PM Modi for giving us such facility here in India. We travelled (on the Vande Bharat) from Asansol to Howrah. We had a great experience. People, who will travel in this indigenous semi-high-speed train will be able to understand why this train is different from normal trains,” Ishika, a traveller from Asansol said, adding that this train is also for those who want to have a comfortable and secure journey. 

Another passenger said that this is a good decision by the Central government. “This could have been done earlier,” the passenger said. 

She said that the Vande Bharat Express trains are secure for women passengers. 

“It is more secure for women as inside the train messages are inscribed stating that a person would be arrested if he misbehaves with a woman co-passenger,” she said. 

Another traveller said that all the facilities ranging from security to services in this Vande Bharat are A-plus.

“Washrooms are cleaned, spacious and far better than other trains,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party MPs Nishikant Dubey, SS Ahluwalia and Chief Public Relations Officer, Eastern Railway, Kaushik Mitra onboarded the newly flagged-off train.

“Wonderful and a lifetime experience. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks about West Bengal so much,” Mitra said. 

The CPRO, Eastern Railways added that this Patna-Howrah Vande Bharat would be beneficial for the commuters going to Patna and Deoghar.

“With the start of Patna-Howrah Vande Bharat, it will be very easy for the passengers going to Patna, Deoghar from here. The train reached around 130 km/hour which is a very important thing,” he told ANI. 

Bardhaman-Durgapur MP, Ahluwalia said that this train will be beneficial for several other districts including Birbhum and Bankura. 

“This train will also connect several holy pilgrimages like Parasnath, Baba Dham, Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s birthplace Patna Saheb, and others,” he added. 

Apart from Howrah-Patna, the other new trains flagged off on Sunday, are Kasargod-Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express, Udaipur–Jaipur Vande Bharat Express, Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai Vande Bharat Express, Hyderabad–Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express, Vijayawada–Chennai (via Renigunta) Vande Bharat Express, Rourkela-Bhubaneswar–Puri Vande Bharat Express, Ranchi–Howrah Vande Bharat Express and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express.

The Vande Bharat train is an initiative of the government under PM Modi’s vision of ‘Make in India’.