No Politics Behind Orange Vande Bharat Trains, Says Railway Minister

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a recent interaction with journalists dismissed the notion that there is any politics behind launching orange-colour Vande Bharat trains, saying the choice of colours was informed by scientific thought.

"For human eyes, two colours are supposed to be the most visible - yellow and orange. In Europe, almost 80 per cent of trains have either orange or a combination of yellow and orange," Mr Vaishnaw said.

"There are many other colours, such as silver, which are bright like yellow and orange but if we talk about it from the point of view of visibility to the human eye, these two colours are considered to be the best," he added.

Mr Vaishnaw asserted there is no politics behind it and it is a 100 per cent scientific thought.

He said it is due to these reasons black boxes in aircraft and ships are of orange colour. "Even rescue boats and life jackets, which National Disaster Response Force uses, are of orange colour."

The Indian Railway launched its first orange-grey colour Vande Bharat train on September 24 between Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. It was one of the nine Vande Bharat trains that Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off on September 24 in a video conference.

Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram was the 31st Vande Bharat train to hit the track for a trial run on August 19 at the Integral Coach Factory, a manufacturer of rail coaches in Perambur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.