Central government flags off Vande Bharat Express

The central government flagged off the semi-high speed, self-propelled Vande Bharat Express (Train 18) on February 15, 2019. The commercial run for the train commenced on February 17, 2019. The 16-coach train has been built by the Indian Coach Factory at a cost of Rs 970 million under the Make in India initiative. Meanwhile, Indian Railways (IR) has begun work on making another 30 high speed Train 18 rakes so that these could be introduced in other sectors in the country.