Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday flagged off the Chennai-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express, which is expected to cut down the travel time between the state capital and the western industrial city by more than one hour.
At a function at the Dr MGR Chennai Central Railway Station, the PM flagged off the inaugural special, loaded with modern features and passenger amenities. He also interacted with school students in the train.
"It is the fastest train between the two cities with a travel time of 5 hours and 50 minutes, saving more than an hour of journey time," an official release said.
The train, the first to connect two Tamil Nadu cities, has enhanced passenger safety with indigenous automatic train protection system 'KAVACH', CCTV cameras in all coaches and automatic sliding doors.
Divyang (differently-abled) friendly washrooms, seat handle numbers in Braille script, modern amenities like LED lights and 360-degree rotatable seats are the other features.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, TN Governor R N Ravi, Chief Minister M K Stalin and Union Minister of State L Murugan were present.