PM Modi flags off Vande Bharat Express at New Delhi Railway station. (Express photo: Gajendra Yadav) PM Modi flags off Vande Bharat Express at New Delhi Railway station. (Express photo: Gajendra Yadav)

Train 18 Launch LIVE Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off country’s first engineless train, Train 18 or Vande Bharat Express, at New Delhi Railway Station on Friday. In light of the Pulwama terror attack that killed at least 37 CRPF personnel, the events accompanying the flag-off were curtailed.

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. The maiden run will cover the distance in nine hours and 45 minutes, which includes stoppage of about 40 minutes each at Kanpur and Allahabad railway stations.

Built at a cost of about Rs 97 crore, Train 18 is India’s first seating-only, long distance trainset that runs without a locomotive. Manufactured by ICF Chennai, Train 18 recently became India’s fastest train by hitting speeds of over 180 kmph during a trial run on a section of the Delhi-Rajdhani route. In its commercial run, the train will run at 130kmph.