Maligaon, December 30 (MExN): Prime Minister, Narendra Modi virtually flagged off the 7th Vande Bharat Express connecting Howrah to New Jalpaiguri on December 30. Modi also laid the foundation stone for redevelopment of New Jalpaiguri station and dedicated the stretch of 88.17 km long Ambari Falakata-New Maynaguri and New Maynaguri-Gumanihat Double Line project to the nation.
Dr CV Ananda Bose, Governor of West Bengal; Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal and Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology were present at Howrah station. John Barla, Union Minster of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs; Dr Subhas Sarkar, Union Minster of State for Eduaction; Nisith Parmanik, Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), Prasun Banerjee were present on occasion among others.
The programme was virtually attended from New Jalpaiguri station by Raju Bista, MP of Lok Sabha; Md. Ghulam Rabbani, Minister of Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education, Government of West Bengal; Dr Sankar Ghosh, Anandamoy Barman, Bishnu Prasad Sharma and Ruden Sada Lepcha, Members of Legislative Assembly (West Bengal) in presence of large gathering.
Anshul Gupta, General Manager, Northeast Frontier Railway along with other senior officials of Headquarter and Divisions were also present at New Jalpaiguri Station during the programme.
The Vande Bharat Express offers a myriad of superior and aircraft-like travelling experiences. It is equipped with advanced state-of-the-art safety features including an indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System-KAVACH. It will also have a Wi-Fi content on-demand facility. Every coach is equipped with 32” screens providing passenger information and infotainment and side recliner seat facility. Executive Coaches have the added feature of 180-degree rotating seats.
Semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph and has travel classes like Shatabdi trains but with better facilities. The Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express will be in operation from both directions six days a week except Wednesday.
