Overview
- The Vande Bharat Express carried a live donor heart on Friday from Surat to Ahmedabad on Train No. 20901 and officials reported the organ reached U.N. Mehta Institute where surgeons proceeded with a transplant.
- Railway Protection Force, Gujarat police and medical teams established a dedicated green corridor from Ahmedabad platform 1 to the hospital to move the heart quickly and without delay.
- The donor was 36-year-old Mithun Lakshman Swain, declared brain-dead at New Civil Hospital in Surat, and his family consented to donate his heart, liver and kidneys with the latter organs taken by road to IKDRC.
- Reports give different journey times (about 2.5 hours to roughly 3 hours 37 minutes) but all accounts say the organ arrived within the clinical viability window and officials credited Vande Bharat’s speed and punctuality.
- Within days a second Vande Bharat transfer — from Ankleshwar to Ahmedabad — was reported, showing rapid operational uptake and suggesting rail corridors could become a repeatable option for time-sensitive organ transport.