The Indian Railways achieved a major feat, which was not even thought of in the past 150 years, on Thursday with engineless trains negotiating the steepest railway track inclines in the country at Khandala and Igatpuri on their own, without any support. This feat was achieved with Vande Bharat Express—a self-powered electric train set. The train descended the Ghats on its way to Mumbai on Thursday evening. The prime minister is set to flag off twin Vande Bharat trains from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai to Solapur and Shirdi on February 10. Currently, all trains that pass through the ghat stretch at Bhor and Thal Ghat halt before the ghat to attach banker locomotives. 

Banker locomotives are powered engines which are attached to the back of the train to push it during the uphill climb and to stop it from losing control during the downhill stretch. This is needed as the inclines at Bhor in the Pune direction and Thal Ghat in Nashik direction have a gradient of 1:37, which means there is a 1-metre rise for every 37 metres.