Vande Bharat Express hits cattle again in Gujarat, fourth accident in 2 months

The Gandhinagar-Mumbai Vande Bharat Superfast Express struck livestock between the stations of Udvada and Vapi in Gujarat. The reports of the accident came from the railway officials late on Thursday. The official informed that the front panel of the train had a small ding from the accident. Since it started running on this line two months ago, there have been four incidents of this nature involving the semi-high-speed train. Similar accidents that occurred in the past caused damage to the train's front panel, which had to be replaced.

Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of Western Railway, said the incident occurred near level crossing gate no 87 between Udvada and Vapi around 6.23 pm. "There was a minor dent in the front portion with no operational issues. The dent will be attended to tonight," he said. After a brief halt, the train resumed its journey at 6.35 pm.

Also read: Vande Bharat Express train to soon have SLEEPER class, ministry rolls out tender for 200 rakes

After the previous accidents, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw addressed the issue and said that the trains are being designed to tackle the issue. In his statement, he said, "All railway tracks in country still on ground, on surface. Problem of cattle thus persists. However, trains are being designed to tackle such issues. Even after yesterday's incident, nothing happened to the Vande Bharat train, front part was repaired."

The damage caused to the Vande Bharat trains in all the previous incidents has been limited to the nose of the train. The officials informed earlier that the front part of the train is disposable and can be easily replaced.

Moreover, after the third incident, RPF had issued a notice warning cattle owners to be careful around tracks. If found negligent legal action would be taken against the cattle owners. Talking to PTI, Western Railway chief spokesperson Sumit Thakur said, "Notices are being issued by the Mumbai division of the RPF to the sarpanchs of the villages, in which the authorities have appealed to the local residents not to let their cattle loiter along the tracks so that such mishaps can be averted."

With inputs from PTI