In an earlier incident in March, a minor fire broke out in the transformer of a coach of the railways' ambitious train. Earlier this year, the production of this self-propelled engine-less train sets was stopped over allegations of favouritism and lack of transparency. In July, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal met representatives of manufacturers and promised a transparent level-playing field to all of them.

On February 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat Express, popularly known as Train 18. It is an indigenous electric multiple unit (EMU) manufactured by the Chennai-based Integrated Coach Factory (ICF). The semi-high speed train that can run up to a maximum speed of 160 km/hour has electrically operated, automatic sliding doors similar to those in metro coaches. Built at a cost of Rs 100 crore, each train has 16 compartments, with two first class coaches.

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A day after its inaugural run in February, the train ran into trouble when a malfunction of the brake system jammed the wheel near the Tundla railway station, some 200 km from Delhi.

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