By Srijit Das
A photo showing a loco pilot holding an umbrella in one hand while driving a train has recently been shared with a misleading claim that it shows water leaking from the ceiling of the newly inaugurated Vande Bharat Express in Kerala.
BOOM found that the photo is actually a screenshot from 2017 video showing a driver carrying an umbrella while piloting a train with a leaky ceiling in Jharkhand.
Reports of water leakage surfaced in the executive coach of the new Vande Bharat Express hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the train between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasargod at Thiruvananthapuram Central Station on April 25, 2023. The leak took place because of a gap in the ceiling and repair work has been carried out according to news reports.
The photo is being shared with a caption, "MODI's "VANDE BHARAT" is a disaster same like Modi. On the 1st day of inauguration rainwater started leaking from the roof of VB in Kerala. Picture speaks for itself".
Click here to view the tweet.
Click here to view the tweet.
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Fact Check
BOOM noticed that the pilot cabin in the photo does not look similar to that of a Vande Bharat Express train.
A glimpse from a pilot cabin in a Vande Bharat train can be seen on the Railway Ministry's official Twitter profile.
Click here to view the tweet.
We then performed a reverse image search on one of the keyframes from the viral video and found a August 2017 India Times news report featuring the same video.
The news report stated that the video was taken near Dhanbad, Jharkhand and included a tweet by journalist Sucheta Dalal who questioned the safety of the train.
The man present in the video said that the leakage was causing a lot of incovenience and that the problem had persisted for years. It is not clear when exactly the video was shot.
Ministry of Railways then also replied to the tweet saying, "We r really concerned, had enquired. The fact that it was dead (non working)engine hauled by another engine in the front, can be seen in video". (sic)
Click here to view the tweet.
We also found a video report on Punjab Kesari Bihar/Jharkhand's official Facebook page including the response from an official about the incident.
The video, as per the report, was said to be recorded on July 25, 2017.
Click here to view the post.
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