The train transport ecosystem is set for a complete change, with the Vande Bharat train having caught the imagination of the public in the country. The Vande Bharat service has earned the reputation for speed, safety and comfortable travel. The train travel is set to see more upgrades with the Central government planning to launch Vande Bharat sleeper coaches, metro, suburban and freight, said B.G. Mallya, General Manager of the Integral Coach Factory (ICF).
Sharing the success story of India’s first semi-high-speed train in the ‘Manufacturing Excellence-The Vande Bharat Story’ at a talk organised by the Chennai International Centre on Saturday, he said the Vande Bharat had started giving international-class travel experience.
Mr. Mallya said the Indian Railways had ordered 200 sleeper coach train sets and was working on Vande Bharat freight trains. The present Vande Bharat train sets, which could run at 180 kilometres per hour, would also undergo an upgrade, with an aluminium body-frame, to run at 200 kmph.
As for the Vande Bharat train being proudly presented as a model of ‘Make in India’, Mr. Mallya said the train set had achieved 87% indigenisation; only axle and wheels, comprising 13% of the set, were being imported. The country was planning to make even the wheels in future. He also gave a cost comparison: a Metro coach costs ₹10 crore per coach. Against this, the standard Vande Bharat 16-coach set costs ₹110 crore. S. Anantharaman, Retired Principal Chief Operations Manager of Southern Railway, said the Vande Bharat train had started competing with flights because of the fair pricing of the railways against the surge fares of the airways.
Comparing the time efficiency of the Vande Bharat, he said the normal express trains would require eight minutes for acceleration and deceleration. But a Vande Bharat train would require only four minutes to do both. He said that with the freight remaining the revenue earner for the railways, the Vande Bharat freight, once introduced, would bring back the lost business opportunities of finished and perishable goods to the railways. At present, the railways freight comprised coal, minerals and cements.
Published - July 16, 2023 12:24 am IST
