New Delhi: On its third commercial run on Wednesday, stones were thrown at Vande Bharat Express – India’s fastest train – breaking one of its window panes, according to news agency PTI.
The railways said this is the third such incident in last two months.The first one took place in December last year during the train’s trail run between Delhi and Agra with the second following earlier this month.
The train was crossing Tundla junction in Uttar Pradesh when stones were thrown at it.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) had started campaigns to stop such incidents across the areas where they were reported. Investigations established that most stone-throwers were young children.
The engine-less train, formerly known as Train 18, was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15. A day later during its first commercial run, the train broke down about 200 km from Delhi on its return journey
from Varanasi because of a technical issue possibly caused due to an “external hit”. The train resumed its journey after repairs, reaching the national capital hours after schedule. The incident had triggered a political war of
words on Twitter.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi turned up on social media to question the viability of the Make In India initiative. “Modi ji, I think Make in India needs a serious rethink. Most people feel it has failed. I assure you we in the
Congress are thinking very deeply about how it will be done,” he had tweeted.
The Congress had earlier crossed swords with Union Minister Piyush Goyal over a video of the Vande Bharat Express zooming along the tracks, with the former claiming that Goyal had deliberately posted a sped-up clip to give
the impression of faster speed.
On Tuesday, PM Modi said that people who are “mocking” Vande Bharat Express should be “punished” for “insulting” India’s engineers and technicians. His comments appeared to be a response to questions raised by opposition
leaders, who had accused the government of rushing the train’s launch.
Manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, Vande Bharat Express had all safety clearances, trials and tests in place. It had covered a distance of 7000 km in its three trial runs.
