Union home minister Amit Shah was accompanied by Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Harsh Vardhan, Jitendra Singh and officials from the Indian Railways at the New Delhi junction for the inauguration of the train

While addressing the event Shah said that the project will serve as a medium for the development of the region by boosting religious tourism

The train has 16 coaches and comprises of two Executive AC Chair Car and 12 Chair Car coaches, with scheduled stops at Ambala Cantt, Ludhiana, and Jammu Tawi railway stations. This indigenously developed train has the potential to run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph, which is said to be the fastest in the country

The train journey between New Delhi to Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra in Vande Bharat Express is priced at Rs 1,630 in Chair Car coaches and Rs 3,015 in Executive AC Chair Car coaches. It will started plying throughout the week from October 5, except for Tuesday

The Vande Bharat express, also known as Train 18, was designed and built by the Integrated Coach Factory in Chennai with a span of 18 months under the central government’s Make in India initiative

Earlier, Indian Railways board chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav had said that  40 Vande Bharat trains will be rolled out by 2022