Indian Railways operating 136 Vande Bharat train services across country

New Delhi: As many as 136 Vande Bharat train services with enhanced safety features and modern passenger amenities were operational as of November 21, 2024.

In a written reply, Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said these safety features and modern passenger amenities include automatic train protection system KAVACH, faster acceleration, fully-sealed gangway, automatic plug doors, better ride comfort, mini pantry with provision of hot case, bottle cooler, deep freezer and hot water boiler, among many others.

The minister was responding to questions raised by nine MPs from various political parties who wanted to know the rationale behind launching the Vande Bharat Express, their occupancy, amenities, passenger feedback and services in Maharashtra as well as on the New Delhi-Kathgodam route.

Vande Bharat - A favourite train for many

Vande Bharat Express, a medium-distance superfast express service is an air-conditioned chair car service connecting cities that are less than 800 km (500 mi) apart or take less than ten hours to travel with existing services. The train was a part of the Make in India initiative by the government and entered commercial service on February 15, 2019.

Vande Bharat services were being operated at the maximum permissible speed of the section enroute to ensure optimal utilisation of speed potential and there was no proposal to reduce the speed. Introduced in 2018, as of October 8, 2024, there are 66 Vande Bharat Express trains in India.

100% occupancy

“On Indian Railways, the demand pattern of reserved accommodation is not uniform throughout the year and it varies over lean and peak periods. Moreover, trains running at popular and convenient times with lesser stoppage and running time are generally well patronised. During 2024-25 (up to October) the overall occupancy of Vande Bharat express trains is more than 100 per cent,” said Vaishnaw.

Passenger feedback

The statewise and trainwise average income generated by Indian Railways has not been maintained. Railway passengers share their feedback on the services offered by the railways through Rail Anubhav of the RailMadad portal. From July 3 to November 20, a total of 51,346 feedback responses on Vande Bharat trains have been received through Rail Anubhav.

Plans for Vande Bharat sleeper coaches

The production of the first prototype of the Vande Bharat Sleeper coaches by Kinet is a joint venture (JV) between Russian transportation firm Transmashholding (TMH) and Indian PSU Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL). The testing phase will progress through various speeds, starting at 90 kmph and ultimately reaching 180 kmph, with the process expected to conclude by mid-January 2025.

The contract agreement, which is called manufacturing-cum-maintenance agreement (MCMA), was signed on September 27, 2023, between Kinet Railway Solutions Limited and the Indian Railways. The total cost of the Vande Bharat Sleeper project is $6.5 billion, which includes approximately $1.7 billion for the manufacture of the rolling stock and $4.8 billion for its maintenance over 35 years.