Bhubaneswar, Nov. 15 -- A serious safety lapse came to light after an empty Vande Bharat train travelled nearly 463 km with the braking systems of all its coaches allegedly rendered ineffective. The incident, which occurred in October, has prompted the South Eastern Railway (SER) to order an investigation into the circumstances that allowed the rake to continue despite warnings from loco pilots.

According to several national media and PTI reports, the incident took place on October 24, when an empty Vande Bharat chair car rake was being moved from Hatia in Jharkhand to Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh with the help of a freight locomotive. Railway personnel allegedly failed to connect the coaches' braking system properly with the locomotive befor...