Mumbai-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Train Rams Into Cattle, Second Such Incident In Two Days

The development comes a day after the Vande Bharat train hit a herd of buffaloes around 11.15 am on Thursday near Ahmedabad.

Vande Bharat train after the accident on Thursday

The newly-launched Mumbai Central-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Express rammed into a herd of cattle on Friday, the second such incident in two days. An official told PTI that the train's front portion suffered a minor dent in the incident.

The development comes a day after the Vande Bharat train hit a herd of buffaloes around 11.15 am on Thursday near Ahmedabad. Four buffaloes were killed in the incident.

The train's cone nose, made up of FRP (fibre-reinforced plastic), was damaged in Thursday's incident and was replaced later. 

"The nose cone cover of the train's driver coach along with its mounting brackets was damaged in the cattle-hit incident. However, the vital parts of the train remained unaffected. The damaged nose cone was replaced at the Coach Care Centre in Mumbai Central," Western Railways' chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur told PTI.

READ | Vande Bharat Accident: No Functional Part Damaged, Train Back In Service Without Downtime

Meanwhile, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Gujarat has registered a case against the owners of buffaloes that were hit by the Vande Bharat Express train on Thursday.

"The RPF has lodged a first information report (FIR) against the unidentified owners of the buffaloes that came in the way of Vande Bharat train between Vatva and Maninagar railway stations in Ahmedabad," WR's senior spokesperson (Ahmedabad division) Jitendra Kumar Jayant told PTI.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged off the train on the route on September 30.

Speaking at an event in Anand, Gujarat, on Friday, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said collision with cattle on the tracks was unavoidable and this factor was kept in mind while designing the semi-high speed Vande Bharat train, PTI reported.

"The train has been designed in such a way and it is so strong that if there is an accident, nothing will happen to the train. Its nose on the front is totally replaceable. As soon as the train reached Mumbai (after the incident on Thursday), it was completely cleaned up and its nose replaced," PTI quoted Vaishnaw as saying.