Passengers stranded as there is no AC in Vande Bharat Express

New Delhi: Passengers on board the Varanasi-Delhi Vande Bharat Express were on Sunday stranded inside the train for around an hour without fan, air conditioning and lights when its auxiliary converter failed, officials said on Sunday.

The train's AC stopped working 10 minutes before reaching Allahabad station at 4:50 pm. The defect was rectified, cooling ensured and it left at around 6.00 pm, they said.

During this time, the train was stranded at Allahabad.

In an earlier incident in March, a minor fire broke out in the transformer of a coach of the 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.