CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -Ahead of New Year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off West Bengal’s first Vande Bharat Express on the busy Howrah-New Jalpaiguri route on December 30, according to reports.

Detailed explanation-2: -The first Vande Bharat Express train was inaugurated on February 18, 2019. The very first route is connecting the capital city of Delhi to the holy city of Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), making stops at Thyagraj and Kanpur. This train runs five days a week, except Monday and Thursday.

Detailed explanation-3: -There are eight operational Vande Bharat Express trains at the moment. These routes are: New Delhi to Varanasi, New Delhi to Katra, Mumbai Central to Gandhinagar, New Delhi to Amb Andaura, Chennai to Mysuru, Bilaspur to Nagpur, Howrah to New Jalpaiguri, and Visakhapatnam to Secunderabad.

Detailed explanation-4: -This train is being operated by Indian Railways, connecting Kolkata and Siliguri, West Bengal’s two important cities. The Express train service will officially start from 30 December 2022 from Howrah. This will be the first Vande Bharat train service in Eastern India.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Vande Bharat Express version 1 (VB1) are all the trains launched in 2019 – Delhi to Varanasi and Delhi to Katra. The Vande Express version 2 (VB2) was introduced in 2022 and till now four of them are fully operational – Gandhinagar to Mumbai, Delhi to Una, Chennai to Mysuru and Bilaspur to Nagpur.