Vande Bharat Express Gets New 'Saffron' Paint, Indian Railways To Replace White Colour: Here's Why?

Reports claim that the decision to change the colour scheme of the Vande Bharat Express has been taken by the Indian Railways as the traditional white and blue paint is difficult to maintain.

The upcoming Vande Bharat Express trains will get a new Orange-Dark Grey paint scheme as against the current generation of semi-high speed trains with white-blue livery. The photographs of the Vande Bharat Express donning the new colour scheme have been shared by the Railway Ministers of India, Ashwini Vaishnaw on his Twitter account. Various media reports claim that the decision has been taken by the Indian Railways as the traditional white and blue livery of the Vande Bharat Express trains, which has been the colour of the trains since 2018 is difficult to maintain.

However, neither Indian Railways nor Ashwini Vaishnaw has confirmed this reason for the new paint scheme. What we know so far is that this will be the 28th rake of the Vande Bharat in India. The semi high speed train already runs on 25 routes across India, while 26th and 27th rakes are ready, wearing the usual colour scheme. Also, the Railway Minister said that this Saffron colour is inspired by the 'Tricolour'. Which means, this trainset is readied to be inaugurated on August 15, for the Independence Day.

Inspected Vande Bharat train production at ICF, Chennai. pic.twitter.com/9RXmL5q9zR — Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) July 8, 2023

Moreover, as seen in the video, the colour scheme has a larger spread on the train, giving it a more prominent appeal as compared to the current Vande Bharat Express trains, where a blue strip runs at the side of the train. While more details on the new trains are awaited, the Railway Minister shared the pics of the trainset from the ICF, Chennai, as the train looks ready for dispatch.

The pics and videos from the ICF Chennai shows the original Vande Bharat Express is standing parallel to the new Vande Bharat Express train. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched two Vande Bharat Express trains from the Gorakhpur Railway Station, during his Uttar Pradesh visit. While one train runs on the Gorakhpur-Lucknow route, the other runs on Jodhpur-Sabarmati (Ahmedabad) route.

The inauguration of these two routes takes the total tally of Vande Bharat Express trains in India to 25 routes, with 50 up and down trains operational. Recently, in a first for the Indian Railways, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched five Vande Bharat Express trains from the Rani Kamplapati Railway Station in Bhopal, during his Madhya Pradesh visit.

These semi-high-speed trains cover 24 states and Union Territories across India. Among these, Delhi and Mumbai have the maximum number of services provided by the indigenously developed advanced trains. On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, all three states got their second Vande Bharat train.