Vande Bharat Train's sleeper version to be introduced soon, prototype rake expected in 2023-24: Ashwini Vaishnaw

The Indian Railways will soon introduce a sleeper version of famous Vande Bharat trains for middle and long-distance journeys, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways, informed the Parliament today.

“Sleeper version of Vande Bharat Trains is planned for middle and long-distance journey. Design for the same is in progress and prototype rake is expected to be turned out in 2023-24,” said Vaishnaw during the session of the Parliament today.

Currently, the Vande Bharat Express is available only in AC Chair class and the fare varies across Chair class and Executive class. The basic fare of the AC Chair class of Vande Bharat Express is 1.4 times of basic fare of the AC Chair class of Shatabdi train and for the Executive class 1.3 times of basic fare of the Executive class of Shatabdi trains, the minister said during the session of the Parliament.

The Minister further informed the Parliament that Indian Railways have also planned to manufacture 75 Vande-Bharat Chair Car trains to connect different parts of the country. In the Budget 2022-2023, the announcement has been made regarding the development and manufacture of four hundred new-generation Vande Bharat Trains, with better energy efficiency and passenger riding experience.

“Introduction of Vande Bharat services including those with 8/16 cars, is an ongoing process on Indian Railways subject to operational feasibility, traffic justification, availability of rolling stock etc. The first 08-Car Vande-Bharat rake is planned in March, 2023,” added Vaishnaw. 

However, the Minister also said that there is no plan of introducing Vande Bharat metro services and the railway will only focus on intercity connectivity.

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