India's 18th Vande Bharat Express Train launched on Delhi-Dehradun Railway route

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the 18th Vande Bharat Express train via vedio confrencing today. This train will be the first Vande Bharat to be introduced in Uttarakhand. This train will run from Anand Vihar Railway Station to Dehradun and vice-versa.

With world-class amenities, it will herald a new era of comfortable travel experiences, especially for tourists traveling to the state. The train has been indigenously and is equipped with advanced safety features including the Kavach technology. The new Vande Bharat Express will cover a total distance of 302 kilometres between Delhi to Dehradun in 4 hours and 45 minutes.

Delhi to Dehradun in AC chair car will cost Rs 1,065 and Rs 1,890 in executive chair car. The 22457 Delhi (Anand Vihar) to Dehradun will depart from Anand Vihar railway station at 5:50 pm and reach Dehradun at 10:35 pm. It will halt at Meerut City, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Roorkee, Haridwar.

Train ID 22457: Delhi-Dehradun Vande Bharat Express timings:

• ANAND VIHAR TRM - 17:50
• MEERUT CITY - 18:38
• MUZAFFARNAGAR - 19:08
• SAHARANPUR - 19:55
• ROORKEE - 20:31
• HARIDWAR JN - 21:15
• DEHRADUN - 22:35

The 22458 Dehradun to Delhi Vande Bharat will depart from Dehradun at 7 am and reach Delhi at 11:45.

Train ID 22457: Dehradun - Delhi Vande Bharat Express timings:

• DEHRADUN- 07:00
• HARIDWAR JN - 08:04
• ROORKEE - 08:49
• SAHARANPUR - 09:27
• MUZAFFARNAGAR - 10:07
• MEERUT CITY- 10:37
• ANAND VIHAR TRM - 11:45

He also dedicated to the nation, newly electrified rail sections and declared Uttarakhand a 100% electric traction state.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister congratulated everyone from Uttarakhand for the inaugural Vande Bharat  Express between Dehradun and Delhi and said the train will connect the nation’s capital to the Dev Bhoomi of Uttrakhand. He informed that the travel time between the two cities will be further reduced and the onboard facilities will make for a pleasant travel experience.

Throwing light on his three-nation tour to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia, the Prime Minister underlined that the world is looking at India with high hopes. “India has become a ray of hope for the world when it comes to strengthening the economy and fighting poverty”, the Prime Minister said. He also touched upon India’s tackling of the Coronavirus pandemic and the world's largest vaccination campaign carried out in the country. The Prime Minister emphasized that beautiful states like Uttarakhand should make the most of today's situation when people from around the world want to come to India. Modi underlined that the Vande Bharat train is also going to help Uttarakhand in taking full advantage of this opportunity.

He said these Navratnas are being consolidated with a new push to infrastructure development in the state. Work is going on at a rapid pace on Rs 12,000 cr Char Dham Mahapariyojana, he informed. Delhi Dehradun Expressway will make the journey faster and easier. He also talked about the Ropeway connectivity in Uttarakhand. “Parvat Mala Project is going to change the state's fortune in the coming days”, he said. He remarked that the Rs 16,000 cr Rishikesh-Karanprayag Rail Project will be completed in 2-3 years. The Project will make a big part of Uttarakhand accessible and will push investment, industry and employment.

The Prime Minister remarked that with the assistance of the Central Government, Uttarakhand is emerging as the hub of tourism, adventure tourism, film shooting destination and wedding destination. He said that the tourist spots of the state are attracting visitors from all across the globe and the Vande Bharat Express will be greatly beneficial to them. The Prime Minister observed that traveling by train remains the first choice for those who are accompanied by their family members and the Vande Bharat is gradually becoming the go-to means of transportation.

“The India of the 21st century can scale further heights of development by maximizing the potential of infrastructure”, the Prime Minister remarked as he pointed out that the governments of the past could not understand the importance of infrastructure while they were preoccupied with corruption and dynastic politics. Even though huge promises were made by the previous governments regarding high-speed trains in India, the Prime Minister observed that they even failed to get rid of unmanned gates from the rail network, while the state of electrification of rail lines was even worse. The Prime Minister informed that only one-third of the country's rail network had been electrified by 2014 making it impossible to think of a fast-running train.

“The all-around work to transform the railways began after 2014”, the Prime Minister said.  He underlined that the work to implement the dream of the country's first high-speed train began in full swing while also preparing the whole network for semi-high-speed trains. The Prime Minister informed that 600 km of rail lines were electrified every year on an average before 2014 whereas 6 thousand kilometers of railway lines are being electrified every year today. “Today, more than 90 percent of the country's railway network has been electrified. In Uttarakhand, 100 percent electrification of the entire rail network has been achieved”, the Prime Minister informed.