Production of Vande Bharat trains will be expanded to three more facilities – Sonipat in Haryana, Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Latur in Maharashtra
Indian Railways has taken the next big leap with the launch of Vande Bharat trains on multiple new routes. These semi-high speed trains have gained popularity among travellers as they provide a faster, more comfortable, and more convenient travel experience. Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reaffirmed that Indian Railways has plans in place to ramp up the production of these premier trains so that the demand from each zone for Vande Bharat service can be fulfilled.
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Addressing a press conference, after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the highest-ever capital outlay for the railways in the Union Budget 2023-24 at Rs 2.40 lakh crore, Mr Vaishnaw revealed that the focus was on building production capacity in order to produce up to three Vande Bharat trains per week by the end of the next fiscal year.
“We have to ramp up the supply chain and production. This year, we will expand production to three more facilities – Sonipat in Haryana, Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Latur in Maharashtra. Right now we are producing one Vande Bharat train every seven days. With four factories producing Vande Bharat trains simultaneously, we should be able to do two or three Vande Bharat trains every week by the end of the next financial year. The focus is scaling up production. It will fulfil the Prime Minister’s vision of covering every major city and small towns by Vande Bharat trains,” the railways’ minister was quoted as saying at the presser.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged off the eighth Vande Bharat Express train, connecting Secunderabad with Visakhapatnam, on January 15. Covering a distance of nearly 700 km, this is the first such train to connect the two Telugu speaking States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Reports suggest two new Vande Bharat Express trains will be launched from Mumbai on February 10. These two new trains will operate on the Mumbai-Shirdi and Mumbai-Solapur routes. Ashwini Vaishnaw tweeted a video the test run video of one of these trains last week.
The indigenously designed train sets of Vande Bharat Express boast of state-of-the-art passenger amenities. The next-gen version of these trains, Vande Bharat 2.0, is an advanced iteration of the earlier model and is capable of reaching a speed of 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in just 52 seconds, and a maximum speed of up to 180 kilometres per hour.
