Bottle crushers, deep freezer, revolving seats among many features in Vande Bharat Express

Plastic bottle crushers, a spacious pantry with a deep freezer, revolving seats and cattle guard are some of the features that define the Delhi-Katra Vande Bharat Express which was flagged off on Thursday. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accompanied by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Union ministers Jitendra Singh and Harsh Vardhan, launched the train at New Delhi railway station.

On its inaugural run, the train reached Katra at 6.50 pm in around 8 hours and made scheduled stoppages at Ambala, Ludhiana and Jammu. The train to Katra, the base camp for pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi, will be running at a maximum speed of 130 km/hour and will cover the distance in eight hours, reducing the travel time by four hours.

The train has bottle crushing machines in the first and last coach in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message against single-use plastic, an official said. "This has been done to reduce plastic waste on the railway lines," the official said, adding the number of machines could be increased in the future depending on the space available.

The train has seats that can revolve 180 degrees, 16 air-conditioned coaches, including two executive class, and sensor doors connecting the coaches. The pantry has been made spacious. This is the first time a deep freezer to store ice creams and welcome drinks have been installed on a train. Three hot cases, two bottle coolers, water purifiers or ROs have also been made available, the official said.

The train has continuous windows and the glasses have been provided with anti-spall films. Anti-spall films are a protective coating to protect window panes and passengers from any fragmentation.

Roller blind sunscreen, which significantly reduces the sun's glare whilst allowing the light to pass through, has been provided on the look-out glass to protect pilots from glare, and improved insulation has been provided to reduce noise level in the driver's cab. Phone handsets have been provided for direct communication between pilots and guards. Commercial run of the train will begin from October 5 and it will run on all days of the week except Tuesday.

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