Vande Bharat Diwali thunder: Ahmedabad-Mumbai travel in just 4.45 hours

AHMEDABAD: Indian Railways is getting the track ready for a Diwali gift to frequent travellers to India's financial capital. If inspections go well, the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Vande Bharat train will thunder down tracks at a turbo 160kmph, bringing down the travel time between these destinations to just 4.45 hours from the current 5.25 hours, said top sources in Western Railway (WR).
Vande Bharat trains on this busy route currently run at 130kmph.
This project is part of Mission Raftar, which targets the Mumbai-Vadodara-Delhi route. This track connects with Ahmedabad at Vadodara.
After the first technical inspection in April yielded encouraging results, a second will be conducted in July to assess parameters like smoothness of the journey as the train rumbles at 160kmph, said sources in the Ahmedabad division of Western Railway.
The train has the capacity to carry over 1,000 passengers but will run with simulated weight during the inspection.
'Fences built to curb cattle collision'
Officials said the current track strength is 52kg per metre, allowing it to take speeds of 130kmph. For the trials, the strength has been raised to 60kg per metre.
There are two pairs of trains running between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, both leaving in the morning and in the afternoon, one pair originating from Gandhinagar. Officials noted that while the train can reach 160kmph, the key challenge is to ensure the track can support such speeds.
Another major obstacle to achieving this speed is the risk of cattle collisions. To address this, fencing has been installed along the route and boundary walls have been built in some areas.
After the July inspection, the railways will have nearly four months to address the issues identified by a technical team, said officials close to the development.
Sources said the train departing Ahmedabad at 6.10am currently reaches Mumbai at 11.35am. After the new speed is implemented, travel time will be reduced by 45 minutes, bringing passengers to Mumbai by 10.50am.