Fact Check: 6-Year-Old Pic of Jharkhand train being shared as Vande Bharat Express with misleading claim
Vishvas News investigation found that a viral image of a locomotive pilot sitting inside the train with an umbrella is being shared with false claims. The viral picture is almost 6 years old and is from Dhanbad, Jharkhand, which is now being shared with a false claim. The viral picture has nothing to do with Vande Bharat.
- By: Pragya Shukla
- Published: May 4, 2023 at 04:47 PM
New Delhi (Vishvas News): After several media outlets said the Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod Vande Bharat train had reported a water leak on arrival in Kannur last week, the Railways denied the reports and explained the reason behind droplets seen on the roof of the train. Now a picture is being shared on social media with the claim that it is linked to this incident. In the picture, a locomotive pilot can be seen sitting inside the train with an umbrella. It is being claimed that this picture is of the same Vande Bharat train, in which there was a problem of water seepage.
Vishvas News, in its investigation, found that the viral claim was false. The viral picture is almost 6 years old and is from Dhanbad, Jharkhand, which is now being shared with a false claim. The viral picture has nothing to do with the Vande Bharat train.
What’s Going Viral?
Twitter user Chris Nair shared the viral picture on April 26, 2023. The user wrote in the caption in English, “Modi’s Vande Bharat is a disaster just like Modi. Rain water started dripping from the roof of Vande Bharat in Kerala on the first day of its inauguration. The picture itself tells the whole truth.”
The archived link to the post can be accessed here.
Investigation
To know the truth of the viral picture, we examined the photo carefully and found that the look, interior or gate of the train does not match that of the Vande Bharat. The viral picture is quite different from the Vande Bharat train. Further, we searched the picture using Google lens. During this, we found a related video on the Twitter account of journalist Sucheta Dalal. The video was shared on August 9, 2017, questioning the security arrangements of the railways. In the comments, people have claimed that the video is from Jharkhand.
The Railway Ministry replied to the tweet saying, “We are really concerned about this. Inquiries have been made regarding this incident. This video is of a dead engine, which was being pulled by another running engine. This can be seen happening in the video.”
On this basis, we started searching on Google with related keywords. We found a report related to this on the website of India Times. The report was shared on August 11, 2017. As per reports, the video is from Dhanbad in Jharkhand.
Other reports can be viewed here.
We found a video report on the official Facebook page of Punjab Kesari Bihar/Jharkhand along with a response of an official about the incident. As per the report, the video was recorded on July 25, 2017. In the video, the officer can be heard saying, “The viral video is of an engine, which broke down, being pulled by another engine. Water is dripping from the roof of the engine, this is wrong. The engine has been sent for repair.”
For more information, we contacted Chandan Sharma, Editorial Incharge of Dainik Jagran, Dhanbad. He told us that this picture is from 2017 and the incident happened near Gomoh (Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Junction) station. This is the incident of the Gomoh-Chopan passenger train. At that the DRM of Dhanbad Railway Division was Manoj Krishna Akhori. He told us that there was leakage, but later it was fixed. There was a lapse in engine maintenance and we took it seriously, Sharma quoted the DRM as saying.
According to a report published in The Marathi Bhoomi on April 26, 2023, there were some reports of water leakage in the Vande Bharat Express when the train reached Kannur. Reacting to this, the Railways denied all these reports and said, all the reports were wrong. A railway official told PTI that a few water droplets had formed near the air conditioner ducts during the train’s inauguration. They said it was a normal occurrence, especially when the AC unit is new. However, this was noticed during the journey and instead of stopping the train midway, it was decided to rectify it on reaching Kannur.
At the end of our investigation, we did a social scanning of the page of the user who shared the viral image with the misleading claim. More than 30,000 people follow the user on Twitter. According to the information on the profile, the user is from Bangalore. The user has been active on Twitter since January 2018.
Conclusion: Vishvas News investigation found that a viral image of a locomotive pilot sitting inside the train with an umbrella is being shared with false claims. The viral picture is almost 6 years old and is from Dhanbad, Jharkhand, which is now being shared with a false claim. The viral picture has nothing to do with Vande Bharat.
- Claim Review : Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod Vande Bharat train had reported a water leak on arrival in Kannur
- Claimed By : Twitter user: Kris Nair
- Fact Check : False
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