“Vande Bharat Express is the symbol of New India’s vision and a symbol of India which is on the path of rapid change” Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
As India celebrates its Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, it has imagined the unimaginable and achieved the unachievable benchmarks that showcase India’s standards to the world. In line with its vision of Amrit Kaal, it aims to transform the massive network of Indian railways with over 800 crore passengers annually, around 22000 trains per day and about 7300 stations. The first indigenously made high speed train ‘Vande Bharat express’ is a marvel that facelifts Indian railways and embodies the aspiration of 1.4 billion Indians. New India’s 9x stride to Rs. 2.4 lakh crores for 2023-24 from Rs. 63,363 in 2013-14 in railway budget allocation matches its vision for a glorious journey to the ‘Amrit Kaal’
New India isn’t just satisfied by incremental changes but aims to be better than the best globally which stands to be true in Vande Bharat trains that have been developed in a record time of just 18 months in comparison to 2-3 years of timeframe to develop similar trains globally. It demonstrates capability of Indian engineers and visionary political leadership, setting up a great milestone in realizing ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make In India’.
Its in-house design & manufacturing, computer modeling and system integration has been fully indigenous at Indian Coach Factory – A railway production unit in Chennai. Apart from it all its components are supplied by over 300 different MSMEs providing thrusts to Aatmanirbhar Bharat giving direct employment to over 2000 people and indirect employment to over 20000 people. While the world operates with a design margin of 3 mm, Vande Bharat trains are designed and manufactured with just 1 mm design margin describing new India’s accuracy.
“This year we will expand production to three more facilities – Sonepat in Haryana, Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Latur in Maharashtra which will enable production of 2-3 Vande Bharat train sets per week by the end of next financial year from current production of one train set per week” said Hon’ble Union Minister for Railways Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw. His statement explains New India’s speed and scale with invincible intent and accurate approach to reform railways in Amrit Kaal.
Enhanced travel experience with speed and safety defines New India’s Vande Bharat trains. With the design speed of 180 Kmph and weighing 392 tons with a capacity to attain 0-100 in just 52 seconds while bullet train takes 54.6 seconds makes it a speed marvel on rails.
Equipped with KAVACH (Train Collision Avoidance System), four emergency windows per coach, four platform side cameras including rear view cameras, Level II safety integration certified coach, aerosol based fire detection and suppression system, superior flood proofing up to 650 mm height for under slug electrical equipments, four emergency lightings and driver guard communication with voice recording facility, Vande Bharat ensures safety for each of its passengers.
32 inch LCD Tvs, passenger information and communication system, side recliner seats for all classes, bio vacuum toilets with touch free amenities, UV lamp for germ free supply of air and along with it the non driving trailer coach in the middle for better acceleration and deceleration will enhance the travel experience
Such world class amenities, superior safety measures and its outstanding speed derives its riding index of 3.5 in comparison to 2.9 which is highest globally. Apart from it, each train set of Vande Bharat costs about 130 crores that is around 40% cheaper than the European unit which makes it cost efficient as well as its regenerative braking system that saves 30% of electrical energy & ACs with 15% more energy efficiency makes it environment friendly as well. Hence, it won’t be an overstatement that Vande Bharat has set up New India’s standards as Global benchmarks
With the launch of 2 more Vande Bharat trains on 7th July 2023, The ‘Gati’ of 25 such trains are leading to ‘Pragati’ covering over 11000+ kilometers across 24 states by reducing the travel time by 25% to 45%. It has significantly reduced the travel time between New Delhi – Varanasi by 5 hours, New Delhi – Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra & Secunderabad – Visakhapatnam by 4 hours, New Delhi – Amb Andaura, Chennai – Mysuru & Howrah – New Jalpaiguri by 3 hours each along with other routes with reduction of at least 1 hour to 2.5 hours. The graph below shows the reduction in travel time on all 50 routes functioning as of now.
In Germany, IC2 trains which have a speed of 160 kmph cost 49 euro (INR 4300) to travel from Hanover to Leipzig which is around 260 kms (INR 16.53/Km).
In Switzerland, the similar IC2 trains cost 59.50 euro (INR 5221.9) to travel a distance of around 207 kms (INR 25.22/Km)
from Zurich to Logano. In Australia, the XPT with a speed of 160 kmph costs 77.19$ (INR 4417 Approx.) to travel a distance of 580 kms (INR 7.61/Km) from Sydney to Casino. In Russia, Strizh trains having a speed of 140 kmph costs 45.84$ (INR 3801) for a 700 kms journey (INR 5.43/Km) from Moscow to St. Petersburg and in the USA, the Acela express train with average speed of 110 kmph costs 76$ (INR 6302) to travel a distance of around 325 kms (INR 19.3/Km) from Washington to Philadelphia. Vande Bharat trains cost only Rs. 2.45/Km makes it a perfect combo of economy with efficiency among high speed trains of similar class across the leading countries in the world.
While India’s target of making 475 Vande Bharat trains in next three years is on track, countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka along with some South American countries have expressed interest in this made in India train.
The Indian railways is also constructing a 59 km long testing track in Jodhpur division to take various tests and trials where the trains which are to be exported will be tested considering various parameters for the prospective clients. Vande Bharat’s success story is also covered by 18 leading newspapers globally.
Those who once mocked Vande Bharat express have been proven wrong as these high speed trains have gained confidence and craze among the Indians with 40 lakh proud passengers (Till Jan 2023) have traveled happily.
We can proudly say that India is among those 8 countries in the world who have successfully made a high speed train with 160+ kmph speed. Vande Bharat express resounds with new India’s capabilities, confidence & charisma resonating its aspirations, achievements & accuracy to scale up and speed up its strides to make this Amrit Kaal a Suvarna Kaal that makes new India – The epicenter of global growth.
Author : Rangam Trivedi
Author Description : Rangam Trivedi has pursued his post graduation in transportation engineering. Along with it he pursued M.A. in political science as well as public policy analysis from London School of Economics. He is a young social contributor, researcher and an author.
Disclaimer : The views, thoughts, or opinions expressed in this blogs belong solely to the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of author’s employer, organisation, committee or any other group or individual.
