Fact-Check: Image of Vande Bharat Express With a Crash Guard Is Edited
The original photo does not show the crash guard in front of the train.
Fact-check: The photo was photoshopped to add the guard on Vande Bharat Express.
(Photo: The Quint)
Telangana Rashtra Samithi's (TRS) social media convener Y Sathish Reddy shared a collage of two images of Vande Bharat Express.
The first image showed a damaged train.
The second image showed the train with a crash guard attached to its nose.
What did the claim say?: The collage tried to take a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by claiming that attaching a guard on the front of the train was the ruling party's solution to prevent more crashes with the cattle.
Many social media users shared this photo with a claim that says, "100 problems, one solution".
An archive can be seen here.
What is the truth?: This photo with a guard attached to the train is edited. The original image does not show any such guard on the train.
How did we find out the real image?: On conducting a reverse image search, we found the original image of a repaired Vande Bharat Express in an article by The Hindu.
The article from 7 October 2022 stated that the damaged nose cone of the Vande Bharat Express train had been replaced at the Coach Care Centre in Mumbai Central.
It also stated that the front portion of the train got damaged after it hit a herd of buffaloes on 6 October.
A comparison between the viral image and the original image confirms that the guard over the train is edited.
The image was edited to add the guard.
We also found both images on photo archives of Press Trust of India (PTI).
Vande Bharat Express' images on PTI.
What about the damage in the first picture?: According to The Hindu's article, Vande Bharat Express was hit by a herd of buffaloes.
The incident happened between Kanjari and Anand stations in Gujarat.
Four buffaloes were killed during the collision.
Clearly, an altered image showing a crash guard on Vande Bharat Express' is going viral.
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