Vande Bharat Express collides with cattle again, third such incident in three days

Vande Bharat Express, for the third time in a row, faced issues with its operation as one of the rakes of the Varanasi-bound train suffered a jammed wheel on Saturday.

According to reports, the train suffered a bearing defect in the traction motor of the C8 coach between the Dankaur and Wair stations.

The train, which was going to Varanasi from Delhi, (Train no. 22436) has suffered a failure due to a bearing defect in the traction motor of the C8 coach between Dankaur and Wair stations of North Central Railway, revealed a statement.

Moreover, the ground staff reportedly detected the fault and alerted the railway operations control to halt the train. Later, after the inspection by the onboard technical staff, the express was taken 20 km further to Khurja railway station at a controlled speed.

The passengers of the Vande Bharat Express were shifted to Shatabdi Express at the station. A detailed investigation of the failure will be done after the rake is taken back to the maintenance depot.

Earlier on Friday, in another such incident, the newly-inaugurated Vande Bharat Express 2.0, which PM Modi launched on 30 September, hit a cow near Anand in Gujarat while on its way to Mumbai.

The incident took place at 3.49 pm between Kanjari and Anand stations, around 433 km from Mumbai, said Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of Western Railway. All the passengers were safe, he added.

“There is no damage to the train, except a minor dent on Nose Cone Cover of front coach i.e Driver coach. Train is running smoothly. This will be attended at the earliest,” the railways said.

In another incident on October 6, the engine of the newly launched Vande Bharat Express, which was on its way to Gandhinagar in Gujarat from Mumbai, was damaged after the train hit four buffaloes that strayed onto the railway tracks between Vatva and Maninagar stations at 11.15 am. Railway authorities said there was no disruption to rail traffic.

However, the impact killed “two-three buffaloes” and delayed the train “by about half an hour in reaching the Gandhinagar station”, said Jitendra Jayant, senior public relations officer (PRO), Western Railway, Ahmedabad division.

“RPF inspector Pradeep Sharma posted at Vatva railway station said the FIR was filed under section 147 of the Railways Act, 1989, which deals with unauthorised entry into any part of a railway and misuse of its property,” the official said. An FIR has been filed for an incident that occurred on October 6 too.

(With inputs from Milan Sharma)