New Delhi: A major fault in the Vande Bharat Express bound from Varanasi to New Delhi, train number 22435, was detected on Sunday, leaving the train stranded at the Allahabad station for more than one hour. A number of passengers took to Twitter to narrate their ordeal, tagging the Prime Minister's Office, Railway Ministry, and Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal.
While the train was stranded at the station, the air-conditioner, lights and fans were not working in three bogies.
The train reached Allahabad station at 4:50 pm. Prior information (10 minutes before reaching Allahabad) was given by onboard staff for non-functionality of the AC due to a fault in the auxiliary converter.
Staff and officers of Allahabad station promptly attended the train at platform number 6. After the Defect was rectified, the train left the station at 5:53 pm. During the entire period, additional divisional railway manager of Allahabad, senior divisional mechanical engineer, senior divisional electrical engineer, station director and other senior officials of Allahabad division were present at the station, chief public relations officer of the Northern Central Railway said.
A passenger onboard the train said on Twitter that the stop at Allahabad was supposed to last for two minutes but the train has been stuck there for over 45 minutes.
This is the latest in a series of incidents plaguing India's indigenously-made train that was launched with much fanfare earlier this year. Even before its first commercial run on February 15, the train's windows were damaged by stones pelted at it on more than one occasion during its trial runs.
The country's first semi high-speed train, on its first commercial run, arrived in Varanasi an hour and 25 minutes behind schedule due to fog, having developed snags and broken down twice.
Stones were thrown and it on another occasion, with the train also having run over cattle more than once.
The high-speed train has been manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. The gleaming blue-nosed locomotive comes fitted with the best amenities including high-speed on-board WiFi, GPS-based passenger information system, touch-free bio-vacuum toilets, LED lighting, mobile charging points and a climate control system that automatically adjusts the temperature.
The 16-coach train has two executive compartments with 52 seats each and trailer coaches with 78 seats each. The executive class coaches have rotating seats to match the direction of the train.