The Indian Railways has issued a clarification after a video of an old electric engine pulling a Vande Bharat train went viral on social media recently, with many including Congress leader Krishna Allavaru taking a jibe at the Centre for using a decades-old locomotive built when the grand old party was in power.
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“The history of 70 years drags the lies of the last 9 years,” said Allavaru while sharing the video.
The 25-second clip shows an old engine pulling a Vande Bharat train as locals present there talk about the sight. The video was widely shared by many, with some criticising the government for “high speed” claims.
“We may take it as a joke, but there’s a scam here. Vande Bharat trains were told to have high speeds, like never before. Now when they are being pulled by the same Congress time engines. How?” wrote a Twitter user.
{{/usCountry}}“We may take it as a joke, but there’s a scam here. Vande Bharat trains were told to have high speeds, like never before. Now when they are being pulled by the same Congress time engines. How?” wrote a Twitter user.
{{/usCountry}}“Interesting video. The old electric engine launched during the Congress government is pulling the Vande Bharat train,” tweeted one.
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Where and who shot the video?
As per reports, the video was shot near Uttar Pradesh's Sakaldiha railway station on June 22 by Shashank Jaiswal. Sharing a video of the incident on his Instagram account, Jaiswal had also informed that the Vande Bharat train was being taken from Chennai's Integral Coach Factory to Patna. No crew members were present in the Vande Bharat, therefore it was being pulled by a WAG-9 class engine, he added.
Railway's clarification
Replying to one of these viral clips, the East Central Railway on Thursday tweeted, “empty coaching rake going for commissioning.” According to the railways, when the train is initially added to the tracks, it is pulled by another engine until its route is determined. Only after the announcement of the route, a train is run by its loco pilot and crew members. In addition, a driver who is familiar with the designated route operates the train during these trials.