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Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday informed the Parliament that around 164 Vande Bharat train services having chair cars are operational on the Indian Railways network.
The introduction of new train services, including Vande Bharat Express services and its variants, is an ongoing process on Indian Railways which depends on various factors which include Capacity of that section; availability of path; availability of required rolling stock; availability of matching infrastructure for rolling stock; maintenance requirement of railway tracks and other assets. In 2020, with a view to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, Indian Railways (IR) had discontinued the operation of all regular passenger-carrying trains with effect from 23rd March, 2020, and only special train services were being operated. Indian Railways also undertook rationalisation of the timetable, including rationalisation of train services and stoppages, in a scientific manner with the assistance of IIT-Bombay. "The exercise has been undertaken inter alia to provide for better passenger safety by creating maintenance corridor blocks, speeding up train services and improving punctuality. Since November 2021, express train services have been operated as per the rationalised timetable and regular numbers," the Railway minister said in an official statement. The daily average number of train services on the Indian Railways network was 11,740 in November, as against 11,283 services operating prior to Covid-19. The daily average number of Mail/Express services on the Indian Railways network is 2,238 (November 2025), as against 1,768 services operating prior to Covid-19. To cater to long- and medium-distance overnight travel, the Sleeper variant of the Vande Bharat train has been indigenously designed. Two such rakes have been manufactured and are under trial/commissioning, the ministry said. The Vande Bharat Sleeper Trains have multiple safety features, with some of the broad technological advancements including being fitted with KAVACH, having Higher acceleration with design/operating speed of 180/160 kmph, and having Crashworthy and jerk-free semi-permanent couplers and anti-climbers. Crashworthy design of carbody complying with EN standards; EN-45545 HL3 fire safety standards; fire barrier doors at the end of each coach. Improved fire safety Aerosol-based fire detection and suppression system in electrical cabinets and lavatories; Regenerative braking system for energy efficiency; Air conditioning units provided with indigenously developed UV-C lamp-based disinfection systems; Centrally controlled Automatic Plug Doors and Fully Sealed wider gangways; CCTVs in all coaches; Emergency talk-back unit for communication between Passenger and Train Manager/Loco Pilot in case of emergency; For Divyangjan passengers a special lavatory in the driving coaches on each end; Centralised Coach Monitoring System for better condition monitoring of passenger amenities such as Air conditioning, Saloon Lighting etc; Ergonomically designed ladder for ease of climbing onto upper berths. (ANI)
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