Vande Bharat Trains [UPSC Notes]

A consortium of Russia’s JSC Metrowagonmash and India’s Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) became the lowest bidder (L1) for the manufacture, supply and maintenance of 200 Vande Bharat trains. Know what are Vande Bharat Trains and how they are different from the normal railway trains in this article. This is an important topic for the IAS exam.

Vande Bharat Latest News – Kerala Gets Vande Bharat Trains

In April 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off Kerala’s first Vande Bharat Express between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasargod. 

Vande Bharat Express

As an excellent example of the ‘Make in India’ success story, the Indian Railways launched India’s first indigenous Semi High-Speed Train, the Vande Bharat Express.

• The first ‘Vande Bharat Express’ train was flagged off by Shri Narendra Modi on the New Delhi – Kanpur – Allahabad – Varanasi- route in February 2019.
• The Vande Bharat Express, earlier known as Train 18, is an electric multiple-unit train designed and manufactured by the government-owned Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai.
• The Vande Bharat Express can run up to a maximum speed of 160 km/hr.
• It can achieve high speeds due to faster acceleration and deceleration and also reduce journey time by 25% to 45%.

Features of the 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.
• Bio-vacuum type toilets.
• Lighting is dual mode – diffused for general illumination and personal for every seat.
• 16 air-conditioned coaches of which two are executive class coaches.
• Divyang-friendly facilities.
• The regenerative braking system can save up to 30% of electrical energy.

Vande Bharat Express Latest News

• The JSC Metrowagonmash and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd consortium will supply 16 sleeper car trains at a basic rate of ₹120 crore per rake.
• This is a Rs 58,000-crore contract to manufacture and maintain 200 Vande Bharat trains.
• This is less than Rs 128 crore per Vande Bharat train made by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai.

Vande Bharat Express 2.0:

• A new and upgraded Vande Bharat Express was flagged off by the Prime Minister between Gandhinagar and Mumbai.
• It will enhance the connectivity between the two business hubs of the country, slated as being a game changer.
• It will enable business owners of the two cities to travel to and fro at a reasonable cost while availing of the facilities that are available on air travel. 
• The travel time from Gandhinagar to Mumbai is estimated to be five and a half hours.
• It is equipped with advanced safety features. It also includes an indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System – KAVACH.

Vande Bharat Trains:- Download PDF Here