A technical glitch in the rake of the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express on Friday morning forced the railways to replace it with the one used in operating Yuva Express, causing a delay of one hour, an official said.
A section of passengers also protested the change, which dashed their hopes of travelling in the swanky Vande Bharat rake that has modern amenities. They said the Yuva Express rake did not have the amenities they paid for, and was not up to the mark.
Owing to a glitch in the undergear of the Vande Bharat rake, it had to be replaced, a senior official of the Eastern Railway said. "The Vande Bharat rake was not found to be fit for running and was replaced by a spare rake, which is used for Yuva Express," he said.
This change caused a delay in the departure of the train by one hour, he said. Among the passengers on the train was Governor CV Ananda Bose who was travelling to Malda to meet the families of the migrant workers killed in the Mizoram rail bridge collapse.
Stating that such a technical snag is not expected in the premier Vande Bharat Express rake, BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar said he will speak to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw who is scheduled to visit Kolkata on Friday.
"I will bring the matter to the notice of the railway minister," said Majumdar, the state BJP president.
