NEW DELHI, Sept 30: Showing that the life of an ordinary person is more important to him than his VVIP travel, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stopped his convoy on his way from Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar in Gujarat to allow an ambulance to pass.
A video of the incident was shared by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Gujarat handle, which said: “On way to Gandhinagar from Ahmedabad, PM Modi’s (cavalcade) stopped to give way to an ambulance.” The PM was travelling to the Gujarat capital after an event in Ahmedabad.
En route two of the vehicles in the prime minister’s convoy could be observed slowing down and moving to the left hand side of the road. Modi was on his way to the Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar.
On the second day of his visit to Gujarat, Modi launched the first phase of the Ahmedabad Metro rail project and the Gandhinagar-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express train.
After flagging off the Gandhinagar-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express semi-high speed train, Modi boarded the train for a ride between Gandhinagar and Kalupur railway station in Ahmedabad. This which connects the capital cities of Maharashtra and Gujarat, is the third Vande Bharat Express in the country. The first such train was started on New Delhi-Varanasi route, while the second one on New Delhi-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra route, an official said.
The train will provide passengers aircraft-like travelling experience and advanced safety features including Kavach technology, an indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System, he said.
The Gandhinagar-Mumbai Vande Bharat Superfast Express will start its commercial run from October 1. It will operate six days a week except Sundays. The train will depart from the Mumbai Central station at 6:10 am and reach Gandhinagar at 12:30 pm. For the return journey, the train will depart from Gandhinagar at 2:05 pm and arrive at Mumbai Central at 8:35 pm.
It will halt at Surat, Vadodara and Ahmedabad stations in both directions. The fare for Mumbai-Ahmedabad journey by executive chair car will be ₹ 2,505, while that for chair car will be ₹ 1,385. The railways has rescheduled Mumbai-Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express to accommodate Vande Bharat Express.
Vande Bharat Express is an indigenously designed semi-High speed self-propelled train set of 16 coaches. The train reaches 160 kmph speed in just 140 seconds and it has better riding comfort for passengers at 3.5 (riding index). The train has a Coach Control Management System for monitoring air-conditioning, communication and feedback to control centre/maintenance staff through GSM/GPRS. It is fitted with Passenger Information and Infotainment System in every coach, the official said.
Equipped with automatic plug doors with sliding footsteps and touch-free sliding doors inside coaches, the seats inside the executive class are revolving. This is the first train with aeroplane-like bio-vacuum toilets with touch-free amenities and also has a special lavatory for divyang (specially-abled) passengers. The seats’ handles are provided with seat numbers in Braille letters to assist the visually-challenged passengers. The coaches have emergency talk back units. The train has better flood proofing for under-slung electrical equipment that will withstand floods up to a height of 650 mm.
(Manas Dasgupta)