Snapshot
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Firming up the road map for the next three years, the Railways has prioritised the goal of putting the manufacturing of Vande Bharat coaches also known as Trainsets on a faster pace.
Providing upgraded comforts to passengers during train travel, redeveloping railway stations with modern amenities like airports and bringing down number of mishaps to zero by implementing accident prevention measures like TCAS are the three top most priorities of the new dispensation in the Railways.
Firming up the road map for the next three years, the Railways has prioritised the goal of putting the manufacturing of Vande Bharat coaches also known as Trainsets on a faster pace.
Raising the bar, the Railways has set the ball rolling to produce more than 600 Vande Bharat coaches in 2022-23 while the target is about 1,000 in 2023-24.
Besides Vande Bharat, the station redevelopment initiative is being taken up in a more focused way so that some busy railway stations become hot spots for passengers with world class facilities and lots of commercial activities.
A senior railway official involved with the plan said the redeveloped station aims to offer modern amenities for passengers while allowing commercial exploitation of the rail premises.
Discarding the costly European technology also known as ETC Level-2 system, the Railways has opted for the indigenous train collision avoidance system (TCAS) to strengthen accident prevention measures in the rail network.
According to the official, “TCAS is already operational in some areas as a pilot project. The plan is to expand the system in the entire rail network at a faster pace.”
On Vande Bharat, the official said these are most modern coaches with better passenger facilities so the plan is to run as many Trainsets in various zones so the passengers would have a pleasant riding experience.
Introduced between New Delhi-Varanasi in February 2019, Vande Bharat was welcomed by everybody for its upgraded facilities.
Second Vande Bharat was introduced between New Delhi- Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra in October 2019. Vande Bharat is equipped with automatic doors and footsteps, computer controlled braking system, stainless steel car body, GPS based onboard Infotainment, comfortable interiors, diffused lighting and 160 kmph speed.
The Train Set rakes will have 16 cars each and the Railways has awarded a contract in January 2021 to Medha for manufacturing 44 rakes.