Vande Bharat Express: The variety of Vande Bharat trains has been elevated to 82 and work is underway to extend the velocity of those trains to 160 kilometres per hour on the New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah routes, the federal government knowledgeable Parliament on Wednesday.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha to questions raised by 10 MPs concerning the companies of the Vande Bharat trains, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated, “As on January 31, 2024, 82 Vande Bharat train services are operating across the Indian Railways, connecting states having Broad Gauge (BG) electrified network.”
“Besides, provision of stoppage of train services and introduction of new train services, including Vande Bharat, are ongoing processes on Indian Railways subject to traffic justification, operational feasibility, resource availability etc.,” he added.
To questions on the state-wise common earnings technology from the Vande Bharat trains, the Minister stated, “Train-wise and state-wise revenue generated is not maintained.”
Vaishnaw on Vande Bharat trains velocity
Regarding the steps that the railway is taking to extend the velocity of the Vande Bharat trains, Vaishnaw stated that sectional velocity over 10,981 route kilometres masking Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) and diagonal routes and different ‘B’ routes have been raised to 130 kmph.
“Further, works for raising of sectional speed to 160 kmph on existing New Delhi-Mumbai (including Vadodara-Ahmedabad) and New Delhi-Howrah (including Kanpur-Lucknow) routes have been taken up,” he added.
On the query of occupancy in the Vande Bharat trains, the minister stated, “During the financial year 2022-23, overall occupancy of Vande Bharat trains was 96.62 per cent.”
On different modifications proposed in the stated trains for the comfort of passengers, the minister stated, “The improved version of Vande Bharat trains presently running over the Indian Railway network with enhanced safety features, faster acceleration, better ride index and passenger amenities, such as automatic plug doors, reclining ergonomic seats, comfortable seating with revolving seats in executive class, mobile charging sockets for every seat etc. and is fitted with KAVACH system.”
About Vande Bharat Express
Vande Bharat Express is an indigenously manufactured, semi-high velocity and self-propelled prepare set. The prepare is provided with state-of-the-art passenger facilities, offering passengers with a quicker, extra comfy and handy journey expertise. The Vande Bharat prepare is India’s first indigenously manufactured semi-high-speed trainset, also referred to as Train 18. It is designed to run at speeds of as much as 160 km/h and is provided with trendy facilities comparable to GPS-based passenger data methods, onboard Wi-Fi, and CCTV cameras for enhanced safety.
There has been a rising demand for the introduction of sleeper class Vande Bharat trainsets, which are able to working on long-distance routes comparable to Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah. Currently, all operational Vande Bharat trains solely have chair automotive and govt chair automotive lessons, which cater to shorter distance routes.
Also Read: 40,000 regular rail bogies to be transformed to Vande Bharat requirements: Sitharaman
