PM Modi to flag off Vande Bharat Express on Friday

The train, which is set to be operational on all days except Mondays and Thursdays, is expected to cover the distance between New Delhi and Varanasi in eight hours

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off India's first engineless train – Vande Bharat Express – from New Delhi railway station on Friday, an official release said. The train, which is set to be operational on all days except Mondays and Thursdays, is expected to cover the distance between New Delhi and Varanasi in eight hours. Additionally, the train can clock a maximum speed of up to 160 kmph, with travel classes similar to the Shatabdi Train "but with better facilities."

"Prime Minister Modi will flag off the maiden run of the train on the New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route Friday morning from the New Delhi Railway Station. He will inspect the facilities in the train and address a gathering on this occasion," an official release said.

Train hit 180 kmph in trial run on Delhi-Mumbai route

Train 18, recently named Vande Bharat Express, has been manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai and became the country's fastest train by hitting a maximum speed of 180 kmph during a trial run on the Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani route.

During the train's inauguration, the train will stop at Kanpur and Allahabad where it will be received by dignitaries including Union Minister of Railways and Coal, Piyush Goyal.

"All coaches are equipped with automatic doors, GPS based audio-visual passenger information system, on-board hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes, and very comfortable seating. All toilets are bio-vacuum type," the release added.

Further, the train, with a seating capacity is 1,128 passengers, has 16 air-conditioned coaches, out of which, two are executive class coaches. Vande Bharat Express also has a regenerative braking system in its coaches which can save up to 30 percent of electrical energy.