Gandhinagar-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express engine replaced after cattle damage

The Mumbai-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Express train's front section, which was damaged when it struck some buffaloes in Gujarat, has been replaced, according to a railway official on Friday. The nose of the recently launched Mumbai Central-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Express train sustained damage after colliding with a herd of buffaloes near Ahmedabad at approximately 11.15 am on Thursday. The train was headed to Gandhinagar at the time. The incident had happened between Ahmedabad's Vatva and Maninagar stations, but on Thursday, the train had travelled without the panel to Gandhinagar Capital station and again to Mumbai Central.

"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," Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of the Western Railway, said.

The nose cone was made up of FRP (fiber-reinforced plastic).  "The nose cover is designed to absorb the impact without transmitting the same to the functional parts of the train. Therefore, it is sacrificial by design and hence replaceable," Thakur said. He said that a sufficient quantity of nose cones is kept as a spare. "The damaged nose cone was replaced with a new one at the Mumbai Central depot in no time during the maintenance, and the train was put back to service without any extra downtime. The train departed from Mumbai today without any inconvenience to the passengers," he added. The Western Railway is taking all necessary action to prevent such incidents in the future, he said.