Railways back to blue-white from saffron-grey Varanasi-New Delhi Vande Bharat. Know why?

New Delhi: The second Vande Bharat train flagged between Varanasi and New Delhi railway stations has the same old blue and white colour rather than the saffron-grey train coaches shown by the Indian Railways. Vande Bharat train was flagged on this route by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, December 18. 

This comes after the Northern Railway circulated brochures to journalists in which the train was shown in saffron and grey. A railway officer said saffron and grey colour coaches have been included in the brochure as the railway plans to convert the present white-blue Vande Bharat into saffron-grey colour. 

Railway’s plan to convert blue-white trains

"We have plans to convert the present white-blue Vande Bharat into saffron-grey colour in the future because they are in the process of manufacturing at coach factories," a senior Northern Railway official said. "Keeping in mind the future scenario, we put a saffron-grey coloured Vande Bharat on our brochures," he added. 

The controversy over saffron-grey train coaches 

The Railways launched its first saffron-grey coloured Vande Bharat train on September 24 between Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. It was one of the nine Vande Bharat trains that Modi flagged off on September 24 through videoconferencing.

At when the Railways shared the plan to paint Vande Bharat coaches with saffron and grey shade- the move was termed as influenced by politics. 

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has also dismissed the notion that there is any politics behind launching orange or saffron-coloured Vande Bharat trains, saying the choice of colours was informed by scientific thought.

"For human eyes, two colours are supposed to be the most visible - yellow and orange. In Europe, almost 80 per cent of trains have either orange or a combination of yellow and orange," Vaishnaw had said.

According to Vaishnaw, there are many other colours, such as silver, which are bright like yellow and orange, but "if we talk about it from the point of view of visibility to the human eye, these two colours are considered to be the best." Vaishnaw had asserted there is no politics behind it and it is a 100 per cent scientific thought. 

Vande Bharat timings

On Monday, the train's inaugural run from Varanasi to New Delhi started around 2.45 pm. However, its scheduled operations will be from 6 am on all days except Tuesday.

The train will reach New Delhi at 2.05 pm and depart for Varanasi at 3 pm. It will reach its destination at 11.05 pm.

The first Vande Bharat train between New Delhi and Varanasi starts from Delhi at 6 am and reaches its destination at 2 pm. It departs for New Delhi at 3 pm and reaches there at 11 pm. It runs six days a week except on Thursdays. 

(With PTI inputs)