A video showing a conventional electric locomotive pulling the Vande Bharat train is being shared on X (formerly Twitter) with the claim that the Vande Bharat train built under the Modi government is being pulled by another engine because it’s defective.
On May 22, the video was shared by the habitual fake news peddler @/B5ØØ1ØØ11Ø1 with a caption “Situation of Vande Bharat Trains, which were personally promoted and launched by Mudiji.”
This video previously went viral in April 2024, gaining traction on X (formerly Twitter) and drawing significant criticism of the Modi government from many users like INC member Vikas Bansal, Jitendra Meena of Bharat Adivasi Party, Congress supporter Shantanu, Journalist Gaurav and a handle Sir Kazam had shared the video suggesting that the locomotive, built during the UPA era, is towing a defective Vande Bharat Express manufactured under the Modi government.
Also Read: Prega News Ad Passed Off As Congress Mahalaxmi Scheme Ad
Fact Check
To verify the claim, we extracted different keyframes from the video and ran a reverse image search, and it led us to the original video uploaded on Instagram by the user the_rail_town on February 18, 2024. The caption of the video says “This is the shunting process in which WDS6 is attached with some coaches of Vande Bharat Express train at Train Set Depot Shakurbasti.”
According to the Hindustan Times, during shunting trial, newly built Vande Bharat trains are pulled by locomotive engines, which is a regular process till the train is commissioned. The train is pulled by another engine until its route is determined, and then operated by its assigned crew members.
This means that the empty Vande Bharat train is pulled by another engine as a part of a routine process. When a new Vande Bharat train is introduced to the tracks, it undergoes commissioning. During this process, Vande Bharat is initially pulled by another engine until its route is fixed. Once the route is decided, the train is operated by its own driver and crew. Before this, during initial testing, another driver operates the train to make sure everything is working correctly before regular service begins.
Previously, a similar video had gone viral leading users to claim that a defective Vande Bharat was being towed by a locomotive engine.
पीछले 9 सालों के झूठ को खींच कर ले जाता 70 सालों का इतिहास👇 pic.twitter.com/WwdCIj7cQL
— Krishna Allavaru (@Allavaru) June 29, 2023
However, the railway had come forward to issue clarification that the empty coaching rake was being sent for commissioning, which is a part of routine process.
Empty Coaching rake going for commissioning
— East Central Railway (@ECRlyHJP) June 29, 2023
Several similar videos are available showing locomotive engines pulling the Vande Bharat trains for commissioning. The visuals can be seen here, here, here and here. The description below these videos mention that the newly built Vande Bharat train is undergoing trials before certification.
Conclusion: The video showing the locomotive engine pulling the Vande Bharat is a part of the shunting trial where the train goes for trials before the certification is issued. The claim that the train was pulled by another engine because it was defective is misleading.
Also Read: Did JP Nadda Say That BJP Does Not Need RSS?
