Indian Railways to introduce another Vande Bharat Express (Train 18) in May

New Delhi (Urban Transport News): It is good news for the Train 18 lovers that Indian Railways has all set to introduce second Vande Bharat Express (Train 18) in the next month after the general poll election. Sources said that the second rake will have some modifications to increase the passenger comfort and safety of the train. Indian Railways had earlier announced that Integral Coach Factory Chennai is developing more semi high-speed engineless trains.  Another self-propelled semi-high speed 'Vande Bharat Express' Train 18 is likely to be rolled out in the first week of May. "The first rake of Train 18 or Vande Bharat Express was a prototype. Based on the feedback from it, we are making modifications in the second rake. The timeline of the second rake rollout is the first week of May", said an ICF official. The Integral Coad Factory (ICF) Chennai is developing more three rakes of Train 18 series. According to the sources, the third rake will be ready by October, the fourth by December and one more in February 2020. However, the Indian Railways had given a target of developing 10 more Train 18 series trains in this financial year. As per the ICF officials, the new rakes of train 18 series will have a special frame in windows to ensure that the glass is shatter-proof. The new rakes will also have several other enhanced types of equipment like the lower portion of seats that will push out by five inches compared three right now, providing more comfort to the passengers. The first Vande Bharat Express which was popularly known as Train 18 is manufactured by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, is the first made-in-India self-propelled semi high-speed train. The first train was manufactured in just 18 months under the close supervision of ex-GM/ICF Sudhanshu Mani. The first Train 18 series train after giving new name as Vande Bharat Express was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February this year. The train is running between New Delhi and Varanasi which covers a distance of 769 kilometres in 8 hours at an average speed of 130 kmph. The second train was expected to be operational in April but Indian Railways had postponed the launch after notification of dates of general poll elections.