Indian Railways to Operate New Trains under Vande Bharat by 2022

Indian Railways is all set to make the third rake of Vande Bharat trains operational by early next year. At present, two semi-high-speed Vande Bharat trains are running from New Delhi to Varanasi and New Delhi to Katra. Speaking to the Livemint, a senior official of Integral Coach Factory (ICF) informed, "currently, six body skeletons of Vande Bharat trains are ready and work on their propulsion system is underway. The third rake is slated to be introduced by March 31, the new Vande Bharat train will feature some additional technical features as well." 

The coaches of these trains will be manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai; Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala; and Modern Coach Factory, Rae Bareilly. Railways are expecting around 102 such trains to be ready for operation under Vande Bharat by 2024. 

Vande Bharat is India’s first indigenously made semi-high-speed train set which is a combination of 16 carriages that are self-propelled and doesn’t require an engine to haul. In the recent years, this concept of distributed traction power has gained popularity across the globe. 

The Indian Railways has planned to roll out a minimum of 10 new Vande Bharat trains that will connect 40 cities by August 2022.