Picture : Twitter/ ANI
People in West Bengal welcomed their first Vande Bharat express on Friday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the semi-high-speed train that will run between Howrah and New Jalpaiguri.
As per ANI report, The nation’s seventh Vande Bharat express train between Howrah-New Jalpaiguri (NJP) has been flagged off through video conferencing by the Prime Minister minutes after the last rite of his mother Heeraben Modi.
Modi took part in the flag-off from Gujarat as the train left Howrah station in Bengal.
The train will cover a distance of around 550km and will take a little more than seven and a half hours to reach its destination, with only three stoppages from Howrah to NJP. The Shatabdi also runs between the two terminals.
The Vande Bharat will run six days a week except on Wednesdays. The train will depart at 5.50 am from Howrah and reach NJP at 1.25 pm. From NJP, the train will depart at 3.05 pm and reach Howrah at 10.35 pm.
The Prime Minister was also supposed to virtually lay the foundation stone of the redevelopment project of New Jalpaiguri Railway station which will be the first international train terminal of the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was scheduled to flag off the Vande Bharat Express from Kolkata on Friday, attended the programme via video conferencing, following his mother Heeraben Modi’s demise on Friday morning.
PM Modi flagged off Vande Bharat express & Kolkata metro and inaugurated various railway projects. It shows that for PM Modi nation is the priority. PM Modi wants east India to develop where West Bengal has a crucial place, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told ANI in , Kolkata
