9 Vande Bharat trains roll out with new feature after passenger feedback

New Delhi: The nine Vande Bharat Express trains flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday have a host of new features incorporated after passengers' feedback to make the journey more comfortable.

From improvising the seat reclining angle to incorporating deep wash basins to avoid water from splashing out, the coach manufacturers have paid attention to minute details. The railways also rolled out its first orange coloured Vande Bharat Express from Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram, a high demand route which now operates two such trains, a senior Indian Railways official said.

The new Vande Bharat trains flagged off by the PM will run between: Udaipur-Jaipur; Tirunelveli-Madurai-Chennai; Hyderabad-Bengaluru; Vijayawada-Chennai (via Renigunta); Patna-Howrah; Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram; Rourkela-Bhubaneswar -Puri; Ranchi-Howrah; and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad.

The nine trains will provide faster connectivity across 11 states -- Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat.

In his address via video conferencing ahead of the flag off, Modi said the speed and scale of infrastructure development is matching the aspirations of 140 crore Indians.

He said the popularity of Vande Bharat trains is constantly rising and over 1,11,00,000 passengers have already travelled in them. The prime minister noted that 25 Vande Bharat trains are running and now nine more have been added. That day is not far when these trains will connect all parts of the country, he said.

"Indian railways is the most trusted co-passenger of India's poor and middle-class people. The number of people who travel in the railways in one day is more than the population of many countries," he said.

"It is unfortunate that not much attention was given to modernise Indian railways. But now our government is working for the transformation of Indian railways," Modi said.

New features

Among the new features introduced on the trains based on passenger feedback are: the seat reclination angle raised from 17.31 degrees to 19.37 degrees, hardness of cushion optimised and the colour of seat in executive class coach changed from red to pleasant blue.

The changes also include improved accessibility of mobile charging point under the seats, extended footrest for seats and magazine bags for executive class coach-end seats as well.

The improved features also include increase in the wash basin depth to avoid splashing of water in lavatories, lighting in toilets improved from 1.5 watts to 2.5 watts, toilet handle given additional bend for improved grip and water tap aerator to better water flow control.

The new features include provision for securing points for wheel chairs of Divyangjan passengers in driving trailer coaches.

The new trainsets also have improved air tightness for better airconditioning with insulation over panels, better roller blind fabric with more tear strength with less transparency and smooth touch controls for luggage rack lights by changing from resistive touch to capacitive touch.

The trains also have improved aerosol based fire detection and suppression system inside the coaches.

Over the next two months, nine more orange coloured Vande Bharat Express trains are expected to be rolled out.