Shirdi is a famous pilgrim site and home of Shri Sai Baba. At the Sai Baba Temple complex, devotees congregate every day to pay tribute to his legacy. Additionally, there is an elaborate marble statue of him at the Samadhi Mandir temple. The Indian Railways started a Vande Bharat train service after witnessing the number of devotees visiting Shirdi. And now, the CSMT-Shirdi Vande Bharat train is set to increase its speed!
CSMT-Shirdi Vande Bharat Train Speed To Increase!
The Central Railway (CR) is planning to boost the CSMT-Shirdi Vande Bharat train’s speed to 130 kmph. This will happen at the Igatpuri-Manmad track. The poor condition of train tracks has caused the country’s fastest train, Vande Bharat, to maintain its speed at 83 kmph for the past 2 years! But, with quality improvement in them, the train speed can increase up to 180 kmph!
In keeping with the Railway Board’s instructions, the Central Railway has started to work on improving the condition of train tracks. After completion, this train will reduce travel time by at least 30 minutes. The Igatpuri-Bhusawal line will benefit from this, reducing travel time by 30 minutes for all trains utilising it.
Also Read: India Gets Its 6th Vande Bharat Train On Nagpur-Bilaspur Route. PM Modi To Inaugurate On Dec 11
Introduction Of This Train Route
The Central Railways had introduced this route from CSMT (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) in Mumbai. The inauguration was done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February. The train was set to complete the journey in just 6.5 hours. Besides Shirdi, the train connects to several pilgrim places like Trimbakeshwar, Shani Shingnapur and Nashik.
Over 60,000 visitors and worshippers of different faiths and religions visit the temple every day. And this number rises during the holiday seasons. Keeping this in mind, the track improvement process and increase in train speed is a great decision.
Russian rolling-stock manufacturer TMH submitted ₹200 crore as a performance bank guarantee (PBG) to the Indian Railways in order to move forward with the ambitious Vande Bharat trains with sleeping facilities. In order to manufacture 120 of these trains, the railways were able to establish a production and maintenance contract with TMH as a technical partner.
Also Read: G20 Delegates Ride Gandhinagar-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express; Enjoy Their One-Of-A-Kind Journey
The first sleeper coach Vande Bharat train prototype is expected to run by next March, according to the government.
Cover Image Courtesy: @bittuekwap7/ Twitter
First Published: August 29, 2023 12:37 PM