Prime Minister Narendra Modi Flags off India's fastest train Vande Bharat Express in New Delhi Friday Feb 15,2019

India's first semi-high speed train, the Vande Bharat Express, was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday Feb 15,2019 from the New Delhi Railway Station amid sombre mood in the backdrop of the terror attack in Pulwama on Thursday Feb 14,2019

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and members of the Railway Board were present on the occasion and will be on board the train on its inaugural journey

"I am grateful to designers and engineers behind Vande Bharat Express which will take its first trip from Delhi to Varanasi today. With our sincerity and hardwork in the last 4.5 years we have tried to improve railways," the PM said.

In its inaugural run, Vande Bharat Express will travel from Delhi to Varanasi in nine hours and forty-five minutes.

This includes stoppage time of 40 minutes each at Kanpur and Allahabad where there will be special programmes.

The PM inspected the train and said he was proud that such a train had been produced indigenously at the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai in 18 months.

The semi-high speed Train 18, which has been recently rechristened Vande Bharat Express, can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph and has travel classes like Shatabdi trains but with better facilities. It aims to provide a totally new travel experience to passengers.

The bookings for the train have begun and it will run commercially from Feb 17 from Delhi to Varanasi five days a week.

It has 16 air-conditioned coaches of which two are executive class.

The total seating capacity is 1,128 passengers.