The front portion of the Mumbai-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Express train, which was damaged after hitting some buffaloes in Gujarat, has been replaced by the railway authorities, an official said today. The Vande Bharat train was repaired within 24 hours of the incident.
The nose of the newly-launched Mumbai Central-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Express train had suffered damage after it hit a herd of buffaloes around 11:15 am on Thursday near Ahmedabad, when the train was on its way to Gandhinagar.
"The nose cone cover of the train's driver coach along with its mounting brackets was damaged in the cattle-hit incident. However, the vital parts of the train remained unaffected. The damaged nose cone was replaced at the Coach Care Centre in Mumbai Central," Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of the Western Railway said.
The nose cone was made up of FRP (fibre-reinforced plastic).
The incident had occurred between Vatva and Maninagar areas of Ahmedabad, but the train had covered the distance to Gandhinagar Capital station and back to Mumbai Central without the panel on Thursday.
"The nose cover is designed to absorb the impact without transmitting the same to the functional parts of the train. Therefore, it is sacrificial by design and hence replaceable," Thakur said.
He said that a sufficient quantity of nose cones is kept as a spare.
"The damaged nose cone was replaced with a new one at the Mumbai Central depot in no time during the maintenance and the train was put back to service without any extra down time. The train departed from Mumbai today without any inconvenience to the passengers," he added.
The Western Railway is taking all necessary action to prevent such incidents in future, he said.
The indigenously designed and manufactured semi-high speed train, the third service under the Vande Bharat series, was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 30 from Gandhinagar Capital and it started the commercial run from the next day.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
PM Modi Meets Caribbean Leaders At India-CARICOM Summit To Strengthen Ties PM Modi To Inaugurate Kashmir To Delhi Vande Bharat Express In January Video: Man Finds Insects In Sambhar On Vande Bharat Train, Railways Reacts Amazon Employee Greets Friend At Wedding, Dies Of Cardiac Arrest "Speculative, Inaccurate": Canada Factchecks Own Media, Backtracks After India's Stinker Indian Student In US Accidentally Shoots Himself Dead While Celebrating Birthday Russia Gave North Korea Anti-Air Missiles In Exchange Of Troops: S Korea Constitution Day 2024: Date, History And Significance Of Samvidhan Divas "Violation Of Sovereignty, Abuse Of Power": Kanwal Sibal On US Report On Adani Group Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.