Indian Railways To Manufacture 64 Vande Bharat Trains With Eight-Coach Each

Indian Railways will manufacture 64 Vande Bharat trains with eight-coach each, at Integral Coach Factory (ICF) — an action plan to reach out to maximum destinations in less time and also meet the target of launching 75 Vande Bharat services by 15 August, 2023.

According to the Railways, the 16-coach Vande Bharat trains with high input cost are not running in full capacity, as occupancy rates are less in some sections causing financial implications to the Railways.

However, the change in plan to ramp up production of eight-coach Vande Bharat trains will cost the Railways more than Rs 110 crore per train, as finalised in the tender document.

The cost would be marginally more as the requirement of control equipment and driver trailer coach (DTC) will be more for eight-coach trains for which the Railways would revise the cost, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

While two ergonomically designed DTC are required in a 16-coach trainset, four DTCs are required for an 8-coach train.

The Railways has manufactured two Vande Bharat trains with eight-coach each at ICF. While one is slated to run between Chennai and Coimbator, the other one is likely to press into service for Secunderabad-Tirupati route.

The Railways, however, maintains that the production of 16-coach Vande Bharat trains will not stop and continue as per the demand.

There are many routes where eight-coach trains are sufficient, while in some sectors 16-coach Vande Bharat is required to cater to the growing number of passengers.

The next 16-coach Vande Bharat trains would be launched for Bhopal and Jaipur destinations.

The traffic directorate has finalised routes for running the eight-coach Vande Bharat trains in due course.