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Indian Railways is set to launch India's 18th Vande Bharat Express train on May 29. The new train is supposed to be between New Jalpaiguri-Guwahati.
With the launch of this train, Northeast India will have its first semi-high-speed train. Furthermore, this will be the third Vande Bharat Express to operate in West Bengal.
Covering a distance of around 410 km between the two cities, the train will be functional in the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) zone.
The New Jalpaiguri-Guwahati Vande Bharat Express is expected to reduce the travel time between the two cities.
Presently, the fastest train between both cities covers the distance in around 7 hours. However, the advanced train will cover the distance in around 6 hours.
Operating six days a week, the train is expected to begin its journey at 6:10 am and arrive at the location at around 12 noon.
For its return journey, the train will depart from Guwahati at 4:40 pm and arrive at New Jalpaiguri around 10:20 pm.
Northeast's first Vande Bharat Express will connect six stations during its journey, including New Alipurduar, Kokrajhar, New Bongaigaon, and Kamakhya, including New-Jalpaiguri and Guwahati junctions.
The 17 operational Vande Bharat Express trains in India cover 21 states and Union Territories.
These states include Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
Vande Bharat Express is a self-propelled train set with cutting-edge amenities that provides a hassle-free travel experience. It was built at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai.
PM Modi launched the inaugural Vande Bharat train between Puri and Howrah in Odisha last week via video conference.
On Sunday afternoon, at Bhadrak railway station, a newly-launched train was struck by lightning and hail, which caused the windscreen of the driver's cabin to crack.