VANDE BHARAT EXPRESS: A Make in India Success Story
400 Vande Bharat Trains to be introduced in next 3 years: Union Budget 2022 Vande Bharat 2.0: Offering a Novel Travel Experience for New India Eighth Vande Bharat Train flagged off by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
(Ministry of Railways)
The Indian Government has dedicated significant efforts towards strengthening the ‘Make in India’ campaign. As an excellent example of the ‘Make in India’ success story, the Indian Railways launched India’s first indigenous Semi High Speed train, Vande Bharat Express.
The first Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off on February 15, 2019, on the New DelhiKanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route.1 On January 15, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the eighth Vande Bharat Express train connecting Secunderabad (Telangana) and Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
The Vande Bharat Express can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph and has travel classes like Shatabdi Train but with better facilities. It aims to provide a totally new travel experience to passengers. Speed, Safety and Service are the hallmarks of this train. Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, a Railways Production unit, has been the force behind a completely inhouse design and manufacture, computer modelling and working with a large number of suppliers for system integration in just 18 months.
Objectives behind Vande Bharat Express
This train has been introduced to upgrade maintenance technologies and methodologies and achieve improvement in productivity and performance of all Railway assets and manpower in which inter-alia would cover reliability, availability, utilization and efficiency.
Culmination of ‘Make in India’ effort of Indian Railways
In keeping with the Prime Minister’s vision of "Make in India", the major systems of the train have been designed and built in India. Impact of this train, matching global standards of performance, safety and passenger comfort and yet costing less than half of global prices, has the potential to be a game changer in the global rail business.
Union Budget 2022: 400 Vande Bharat Trains in three years
In the Union Budget 2022-23, Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman announced that four hundred new-generation Vande Bharat Trains with better energy efficiency and passenger riding experience will be developed and manufactured during the next three years.
These trains would be in addition to the two existing Vande Bharat Express Trains. The Howrah – Ranchi Vande Bharat Express is now being planned by Indian Railways, and the Railway Board has approved this rail route. This will be the third Vande Bharat Express Train in the country, which will connect Howrah (Kolkata) with the Capital of Jharkhand, Ranchi.
Features and Amenities in Vande Bharat Express
• The Vande Bharat Express train has an intelligent braking system which enables better acceleration and deceleration.
• All coaches are equipped with automatic doors; GPS based audio-visual passenger information system, on-board hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes, and very comfortable seating. The executive class also has rotating chairs.
• All toilets are bio-vacuum type. The lighting is dual mode, viz. diffused for general illumination and personal for every seat.
• Every coach has a pantry with facilities to serve hot meals, hot and cold beverages. The insulation is meant to keep heat and noise to very low levels for additional passenger comfort.
• The Vande Bharat Express has 16 air-conditioned coaches of which two are executive class coaches. The total seating capacity is 1,128 passengers. It is much more than the conventional Shatabdi rake of equal number of coaches, thanks to shifting of all electric equipment below the coaches and seats in the driving coach also.
• It also has provision for Divyang-friendly facilities.
• Adding up the green footprints, the train has a regenerative braking system in the Vande Bharat Express coaches which can save up to 30% of electrical energy.
• The Vande Bharat Express train has fully sealed gangways and censored interconnecting doors for a dust free environment.
• A fire survival cable indoor circuit will also be an available on the train. There will also
be an improved air conditioning system.
Routes:
Currently, the eight Vande Bharat Express Trains are running on the following routes:
1. New Delhi – Shri Vaishno Devi Mata, Katra
2. New Delhi – Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
3. Gandhinagar Capital – Ahmedabad - Mumbai Central
4. Amb Andaura – New Delhi
5. Mysuru – Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MGR Chennai Central
6. Nagpur, Maharashtra – Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh
7. Howrah – New Jalpaiguri, West Bengal
8. Secunderabad, Telangana – Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
Vande Bharat 2.0
The Indian Railways has introduced the new avatar of Vande Bharat: Vande Bharat 2.0 with the first train being flagged off by the Prime Minister on September 30, 2022 from Gandhinagar to Mumbai. 11 The Vande Bharat 2.0 will be equipped with a range of advanced features over its predecessor. It will be able to attain maximum speed up to 180 kmph, and will be lighter, weighing 392 ton instead of the earlier 430 ton.
Enhanced Safety:
The Vande Bharat 2.0 trains have the KAVACH (Train Collision Avoidance System) for enhanced safety in operations. There will be improved security with four emergency windows added in every coach. There will be four platform side cameras
including rear view cameras outside the coach instead of two earlier. The new coaches have Level-II safety integration certification for better train control. The Vande Bharat 2.0 will also have better fire safety measures with Aerosol based fire detection and suppression system in all electrical cubicles and toilets. There will be superior flood proofing for under-slung electrical equipment to withstand floods up to 650 mm height as compared to 400 mm earlier. The train will also have four emergency lightings in every coach in case of electric failure.
Improved Amenities for Passengers:
There will be enhanced riding comfort for passengers at 3.5 riding index. The new Vande Bharat will also have 32-inch LCD TVs in place of the earlier 24-inch TVs. There will be a passenger information and communication system in Vande Bharat
2.0. 15 percent more energy efficient ACs with dust free clean air cooling of traction motor will make the travel more comfortable. Side recliner seat facility which is being provided to Executive Class passengers, will now be made available for all classes. The Executive Coaches have the added feature of 180-degree rotating seats. The train will also have bio vaccum toilets with touch-free amenities. The trains will also have wifi content on demand.
Other Enhancements:
The Vande Bharat 2.0 will have finer heat ventilation and air-conditioning controlthrough higher efficiency compressor, with Ultra Violet (UV) lamp for germ-freesupply of air. The train’s time to reach 160 KMPH will be 140 seconds, compared to
145 seconds earlier. There will be driver-guard communication with voice recordingfacility. There will be change of formation with non-driving trailer coach in themiddle for better acceleration and deceleration. The train will have better ventilation
for traction motor for better reliability. There will also be two signal exchange lights on the coaches for exchange of signal with the way side stations.
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