NE NEWS SERVICE
VALLABH VIDYANAGAR, OCT 7
Collision with cattle on the tracks is unavoidable and this has been kept in mind while designing the semi-high speed Vande Bharat train, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said here on Friday.
A day before, four buffaloes were killed after being hit by the Gandhinagar Capital-Mumbai Central Vande Bharat Express near Vatva in Ahmedabad. The train’s cone nose was damaged and it was replaced later. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged off the train on the route on September 30.
“The train has been designed in such a way and it is so strong that if there is an accident, nothing will happen to the train. Its nose on the front is totally replaceable. As soon as the train reached Mumbai (after the incident on Thursday), it was completely cleaned up and its nose replaced,” Vaishnaw said.
- Ashwini Vaishnaw says cattle cannot be stopped, collision is inevitable
- The next version of the Vande Bharat train will run at a speed of 200 kmph: Vaishnaw
The minister was interacting with the students of an engineering college at Vallabh Vidyanagar. The train has been designed “very thoughtfully,” he said. “In India, the tracks are laid on the ground. Wherever you go, cattle will cross them, one cannot stop them. Unless we elevate the tracks in another 5-6 years, they (cattle) will come in front of the trains,” the minister said. “The trains will run at a speed of 120-130-160 kmph and a collision is inevitable. It is a matter of common sense and design.
Therefore, design it in such a way that you can mend it whenever there is such an incident,” the Union minister said. “The train has been designed keeping this in mind,” he said.
“The next version of the Vande Bharat train will run at a speed of 200 kmph,” Vaishnaw said. The latest updated version which runs on the Gandhinagar-Mumbai route has a top speed of 160 kmph.
During the interaction with college students, the minister also talked about Modi’s experience of the train as he travelled from Gadhinagar to Kalupur railway station in Ahmedabad on the first day. The air spring of the train absorbs the shock nearly completely and noise is practically non-existent inside, Vaishnaw said.
“Modi travelled for nearly 40km. Along the route, he was talking to technicians and welders and stood eight or nine times for photos on their request. He did not have to take support even once due to non-existing vibration (when he was standing). Even the noise level is 65 decibels against 80-90 decibels of planes,” he said. These are the features of a “world-class train”, the minister added.
“The first two Vande Bharat trains (launched first in 2019) have covered 18 lakh kilometres which is equal to nearly 45 times the Earth’s periphery without any major problem,” he said.
RPF registers case against the owners of buffaloes
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Gujarat has registered a case against the owners of buffaloes that were hit by the Mumbai-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat express, in which the front portion of the train was damaged, officials said on Friday.
The nose cone cover of the driver coach of the semi-high speed train, which got damaged after hitting the buffaloes, was replaced with a new one in Mumbai, the Western Railway (WR) said in a statement.
The newly-launched Mumbai Central-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat train had hit the herd of buffaloes around 11.15 am on Thursday near Ahmedabad, when the train was on its way to Gandhinagar. Four buffaloes were killed in the incident, the officials said.
“The RPF has lodged a first information report (FIR) against the unidentified owners of the buffaloes that came in the way of Vande Bharat train between Vatva and Maninagar railway stations in Ahmedabad,” WR’s senior spokesperson (Ahmedabad division) Jitendra Kumar Jayant said.
RPF inspector Pradeep Sharma posted at Vatva railway station said the FIR was filed under section 147 of the Railways Act, 1989, which deals with unauthorised entry into any part of a railway and misuse of its property. “The FIR was registered on Thursday evening in connection with the incident in which four buffaloes were killed,” he said. The railway police have not yet been able to identify the owners of the buffaloes so far and efforts are on to do so, he said.
The incident had occurred in Punitnagar area near Vatva railway station on the outskirts of Ahmedabad city, Sharma added.
The train’s damaged nose cone cover made up of FRP (fibre-reinforced plastic) was replaced with a new one in Mumbai, the WR said in a statement.
“The nose cone cover of the train’s driver coach along with its mounting brackets was damaged in the cattle-hit incident. However, the vital parts of the train remained unaffected. The damaged nose cone was replaced at the Coach Care Centre in Mumbai Central,” WR’s chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said.
After the incident on Thursday, the train had covered the distance to Gandhinagar Capital station and back to Mumbai Central without the nose cover panel as there was no damage to it train’s vital parts, he said.
“The nose cover is designed to absorb the impact without transmitting the same to the functional parts of the train. Therefore, it is sacrificial by design and hence replaceable,” Thakur added. Railway keeps sufficient nose-cones as spare, he said.
“The damaged nose cone was replaced in no time and the train was put back to service without any extra down time. The train departed from Mumbai today without any inconvenience to the passengers,” he said.
According to the official, the Western Railway is taking all necessary measures to prevent such incidents in future.
