A day after being flagged off, Vande Bharat Express runs into trouble

A day after being flagged off by PM Narendra Modi, India's first semi-high speed train, Vande Bharat Express, ran into some trouble early on Saturday while returning to Delhi from Varanasi.

The train reached Delhi around 1 pm on Saturday and is scheduled to begin its first commercial run on Sunday with all tickets already sold out. While officials said the problem was caused by "skidding wheels", those on board the train claimed it was a case of malfunctioning of brakes.

Train 18, which was recently rechristened Vande Bharat Express, had left Varanasi Junction for Delhi at 10:30 pm on Friday, nearly 45 minutes after reaching the holy city on its inaugural journey. The first breakdown occurred around 15 km from Tundla junction in Uttar Pradesh around 6:30 am. "It was a case of skidding wheels after the train ran over cattle," Northern Railway CPRO Deepak Kumar had said in the morning.

According to sources, including several journalists on board the train, it was stuck near Tundla for over an hour. They said before the train came to a halt, its end coaches started making a rattling sound.

Around 8:15 am, the engineers fixed the problem and the train started moving at 10 kmph which was increased to 40 kmph after some time.