Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to launch two Vande Bharat Express trains on Mumbai-Solapur and Mumbai-Shirdi routes on February 10. These Vande Bharat Express trains will undergo trials in the hilly ghat sections of the city's outskirts without deployment of additional locomotives before their inauguration next month.
To cut travel time, Railway authorities have decided to run these semi high-speed trains on both the routes without attaching bankers. In ghat sections bankers are used for pushing trains besides avoiding incidents of train roll back in case of parting of coaches. The Vande Bharat Express between Mumbai and Solapur is likely to run via the Bhor ghat (located between Karjat and Khandala on way to Pune) and is expected to cover a distance of around 400 km in 6.35 hours. On the other hand, the Mumbai-Shirdi high-speed train is expected to run via the Thal ghat (in Kasara on Mumbai's outskirts) and cover a distance of around 340 km in 5.25 hours.
At present, all trains passing through these ghats are hauled up by additional locomotives (called bankers) from the Mumbai side. According to the officials the trials will be started immediately on both the ghat sections. But the process of attaching and detaching the bankers takes at least a few minutes which increasing travel time.
The official said to do away with bankers in ghat sections, both Vande Bharat Express trains will be fitted with parking brakes.
So far, eight Vande Bharat Express trains have been launched on various inter-state routes. Vande Bharat Express is an indigenously designed semi high-speed self-propelled train set of 16 coaches. The train has a control management system for monitoring air-conditioning and every coach is fitted with passenger information and infotainment system.
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