“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.” Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw
Vande Bharat train, a niche product of Indian Railways, is all set to connect a majority of big and small cities across the country, with Railways unveiling its plan to ramp up its production of trainsets in the coming financial year rapidly.
The Railways is building production capacity to roll out two to three Vande Bharat every week to cater to the growing demand for such trains across the country.
A popular service since its launch in 2019, currently, eight Vande Bharat trains are operational, and two more such trains are expected to be pressed into service on February 10.
Railways will ramp up its production to fulfil the demand from each zone for Vande Bharat service.
Addressing the media after the recent Union Budget, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the railway department was focused on producing up to three Vande Bharat (VB) trains per week by the end of the next fiscal year.
Besides ICF Chennai, the manufacturing of Vande Bharat trains would be undertaken at three more facilities.
He said, “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 doing one Vande Bharat train every seven days.”
The Railways has received Rs 2.40 lakh crores as gross budgetary support (GBS), the highest ever allocation in the Budget. India’s national carrier also secured approval to produce 500 more Vande Bharat trains in the next three years.
“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.”
During the media interaction, Vaishnaw further said that the eight VB trains have cumulatively covered the equivalent of 52 times the entire earth’s perimeter without any significant technical challenges setting the stage for rapidly scaling up the production of rolling stock.
Adding that the ministry was also developing Vande Bharat Metro trains, the Railway Minister said that within the periphery of 50-60kms of every major city, there are very large habitations from where the people would come to the cities for work and leisure before returning home.
“We are coming up with the Vande Bharat equivalent of metro trains, which would offer a world class shuttle like experience to the people,” he said.
“Production and design will be completed this year. In the financial year 2024-25, ramping up of production of Vande Bharat Metro will happen,” Vaishnaw said.
With the Ministry of Railways working on a blueprint to start export of the indigenously manufactured Vande Bharat trains by 2025-26, the underlying design and technology is now garnering global attention
The Financial Times recently highlighted that many of its features are novel in India, including technology that captures some of the energy trains generate when braking and feeds it back to the power grid.
“Designed, engineered, and built locally, the train is a showcase project for the “Make in India” industrial policy of Narendra Modi’s nationalist government, which aims to build indigenous capacity in everything from microchips to combat helicopters, using local knowhow and talent while leveraging strategic partnerships with foreign companies.” the FT noted.