Jaipur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off Rajasthan’s first Vande Bharat Express train via video conferencing today.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister congratulated the land of valour Rajasthan for getting its first Vande Bharat Train that will not only ease the travel between Jaipur Delhi but will also give a push to the tourism industry of Rajasthan as it will help the access to places of faith like Theerthraj Pushkar and Ajmer Sharif.
In the last two months, the Prime Minister recalled getting the opportunity to flag off six Vande Bharat trains in the country including the Delhi-Jaipur Vande Bharat Express and gave the example of Mumbai-Solapur Vande Bharat Express, Mumbai-Shiridi Vande Bharat Express, Rani Kamlapati-Hazrat Nizammuddin Vande Bharat Express, Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express and Chennai Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express.
The Prime Minister pointed out that approximately 60 lakh citizens have traveled in the Vande Bharat Express since its inception. “The speed of Vande Bharat is its main speciality and it is saving the time of people”, the Prime Minister said. According to a study, the Prime Minister noted that those who travel by Vande Bharat express save 2500 hours on every trip. He highlighted that the Vande Bharat Express is developed while keeping in mind manufacturing skills, safety, fast pace and beautiful design.
Reiterating that the citizens have highly appreciated the Vande Bharat Express, the Prime Minister said that the Express train is the first semi automatic train to be developed in India and one of world’s first compact and efficient trains. “Vande Bharat is the first train to be compatible with the indigenous safety Kavach system”, Modi said.
He pointed out that it is the first train to scale the heights of Sahyadri Ghats without needing an extra engine. “The Vande Bharat Express realizes the spirit of ‘ ‘India First Always First’”, he said. The Prime Minister expressed delight that the Vande Bharat Express has become synonymous with development, modernity, stability and ‘Atmanirbharta’.
The Prime Minister lamented the fact that an important and basic need of the citizens like railways was turned into an arena of politics. He said India inherited a fairly big railway network at the time of Independence but political interest dominated the need for modernization in the years after independence.
