Jaishankar on PM Modi’s 10-hour train journey to Ukraine

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has poked fun at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent 10-hour train journey to Ukraine, saying he could have done it with ‘Vande Bharat’.

Responding to a question about PM Modi’s train journey at the ET World Leaders Forum, Jaishankar quipped, “I could have done it with Vande Bharat.”

“It was a 10-hour journey both ways, and I think given the situation, obviously, you get what you get, but 10 hours is 10 hours,” he added.

When asked when was the last time an Indian Prime Minister took a train ride, Jaishankar recalled Modi’s ride on Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train, pointing to the rarity of such incidents.

“I remember Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelling on a Shinkansen bullet train in Japan, I don’t remember any other train journey at least for a long time,” the minister said.

The Vande Bharat Express is a high-speed train service in India, developed as part of the government’s efforts to modernise the country’s rail infrastructure. It is a fully air-conditioned, semi-high-speed train that can reach speeds of up to 180 km/h, although it usually runs at around 130–160 km/h (81–99 mph) on most routes due to track conditions. The first Vande Bharat Express was launched on February 15, 2019, on the New Delhi-Varanasi route. Since then, several more routes have been launched connecting major cities across India.

Modi visited Ukraine last week, becoming the first Indian prime minister to do so since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992. The visit was seen as part of India’s delicate balancing act amid the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, especially after Modi’s recent visit to Russia for a summit with President Vladimir Putin.