Indian Railways to launch 11th Vande Bharat Express between Delhi and Jaipur

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): The national transporter Indian Railways is all set to launch the 11th Vande Bharat Express train before 10th April 2023. Vande Bharat Express is the fastest semi high-speed train in the country which is currently operated on a total of 10 routes of the Indian Railways. The new Vande Bharat Express will be operated between New Delhi and Jaipur by the Northern Railways (NR).

According to the Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Delhi-Jaipur Vande Bharat Express is likely to be flagged before April 10. He further said that some technical changes have to be made on the route, before the semi-high-speed train can be made to run between Delhi and Jaipur.

"Two initiatives to be taken in this route. First increasing speed on this route by making certain changes in the track, like installation of a double distant signalling system and removing some curves. After these initiatives, we will able to run trains on 130 KMPH to 160 KMPH," Vaishnaw said.

"Secondly, a special pantograph (an apparatus mounted on the roof of an electric train to collect power through contact with an overhead line) has also got prepared and the new train would arrive in Jaipur on March 24," Vaishnaw added. He further said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian Railways is on the path of transformation.

"Many steps have been taken up in the last 7-8 years towards the modernisation of railways. In the next 3-4 years, we will be able to export Vande Bharat technology," he said.

Ashwini Vaishnaw also inspected New Delhi-Ajmer Shatabdi Express and takes feedback from passengers. Minister said that the passengers had given positive feedback. "They told that trains are more clean than earlier, they are on time, and platforms are also very clean," he added.

These Vande Bharat services have ultra-modern features like faster acceleration, better ride comfort, on board infotainment and Global Positioning System (GPS) based passenger information system, automatic doors, retractable footsteps and Zero discharge vacuum bio toilets etc.

The Point-to-Point fare of Vande Bharat Express is calculated based on basic fare table notified for Vande Bharat trains. Other charges like reservation fee, superfast surcharge, catering charge and Goods and Services tax etc as applicable are levied separately. Basic fare of Vande Bharat Express in AC chair car is 1.4 times of basic fare of AC chair car of Shatabdi train and in Executive class is 1.3 times of basic fare of executive class of Shatabdi train services.

Indian Railways have planned to manufacture 75 Vande-Bharat Chair Car Trains to connect different parts of the country. Further, in the Budget 2022-2023, announcement has been made regarding development and manufacture of four hundred new-generation Vande Bharat Trains, with better energy efficiency and passenger riding experience, during the next three years. 

Presently, the following 10 pairs of Vande Bharat train services are operational on the Indian Railways’ network: -

1. 22435/22436 Varanasi- New Delhi Express

2. 22439/22440 New Delhi – Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Express

3. 20901/20902 Mumbai Central - Gandhinagar Capital Express 

4.  22447/22448 New Delhi - Amb Andaura Express 

5. 20607/20608 MGR Chennai - Mysuru Express 

6. 20825/20826 Bilaspur - Nagpur Express 

7. 22301/22302 Howrah - New Jalpaiguri Express

8. 20833/20834 Visakhapatnam - Secunderabad Express 

9. 22223/22224 CSMT - Sainagar Shirdi Express

10. 22225/22226 Solapur – CSMT Express

Vande Bharat Express services aim at providing faster and better travel experience to the passengers.