Train 18, India’s fastest train, pelted with stones on Delhi-Agra trial run
21 Dec 2018
The first India-made train that runs at speeds of up to 180 km per hour – Train 18 - was greeted by pelting of stones by vandals on during a trial run between Delhi and Agra on Thursday.
Glass panels of the newly-built Train 18, which is scheduled to be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 29 December, was damaged in the pelting of stones, railway officials said.
The incident is being investigated, officials said. The country's first engineless train will replace Shatabdi trains and will run between Delhi and Varanasi.
“Train 18 running at 180 km/h between Delhi and Agra at this time… Srinivas, chief design engineer of ICF was in the cab, they touched 181 kmh for record sake… Some vandal threw a stone breaking a glass, hope we nab him,” tweeted Sudhanshu Mani, general manager of the Integral Coach Factory that manufactured these state-of-the-art rakes.
The engineless Train 18, built by RCF at a cost of Rs100 crore, will replace Shatabdi trains and will run between Delhi and Varanasi. In earlier trial run on a section of the Delhi-Rajdhani route also Train 18 hit speeds of over 180 kmph.
The gleaming train comes fitted with amenities at par with the best in the world — from on-board WiFi to a GPS-based passenger information system, touch-free bio-vacuum toilets, LED lighting, mobile charging points and a climate control system that adjusts the temperature according to occupancy and weather.
The train will have two executive compartments which will have 52 seats each and trailer coaches will have 78 seats each. The executive class will have rotating seats to match the direction of the train.
According to the tentative plan, the train will start from New Delhi station at 6 am and reach Varanasi at 2 pm. For the return journey, the train will start at 2.30 pm from Varanasi and reach the national capital at 10.30 pm on the same day.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, impressed with the success of Train 18 during trials, has recently asked ICF to build four more similar rakes in the current financial year.