News Brief
Vande Bharat Sleeper Trainset Ready, Set To Undergo Field Trials Soon
The Vande Bharat sleeper train. (Wikipedia)
Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the first prototype of Vande Bharat Sleeper trainset has been manufactured and will undergo field trials soon.
He added that the timeline of rollout of train is subject to successful completion of the trials.
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Friday (6 December), Vaishnaw said that the Vande Bharat Sleeper Trains are planned for long and medium distance journey, and are equipped with modern features and passenger amenities.
Some of the features and amenities of these trains are:
Fitted with KAVACH Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system
EN-45545 HL3 fire safety standards compliant train.
Crashworthy and Jerk-Free Semi permanent couplers and Anti Climbers.
Crashworthy Design of Carbody complying with EN standards.
Regenerative braking system for energy efficiency.
Higher Average speed with quick deceleration and acceleration.
Accommodation and accessible toilets for Passengers with Restricted Mobility (PRM) in the driving coaches on each end.
Centrally controlled Automatic Plug Doors and Fully Sealed wider gangways.
Ergonomically designed ladder for ease of climbing on to upper berths.
Centralized Coach Monitoring System for better condition monitoring of passenger amenities such as Air conditioning, Saloon Lighting etc.
CCTV surveillance cameras in all coaches.
Informing about medium distance Vande Bharat train services, the Union Minister said that as on 2 December, 136 Vande Bharat train services with chair car coaches are running across the Indian Railways network.
Of these, 16 Vande Bharat Express services are catering to the needs of stations located in Tamil Nadu.
The longest distance Vande Bharat train services are running between Delhi and Banaras, covering a distance of 771 km.
He further added that introduction of new train services, including Vande Bharat services and its variants, is an ongoing process on Indian Railways subject to traffic justification, operational feasibility, resource availability, etc.
