Upcoming Vande Bharat Sleeper To Get 220 Kmph Top Speed, Indian Railways Working On New Trains

Once operational, the new sleeper Vande Bharat Express will become the fastest train in India, replacing the Delhi-Meerut RAPIDX with 180 kmph top speed.

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The made-in-India Vande Bharat Express has generated a tremendous response from the travellers and is getting a lot of push from the Ministry of Railways itself. The semi-high speed train is a pet project for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, who launches every single Vande Bharat Express in India. With such high enthusiasm among the government and the travellers, the Indian Railways is working to make the Vande Bharat trains even more attractive for the passengers. Recently, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw confimed that they are working to launch three variants of the Vande Bharat Express soon.

While the current version of Vande Bharat Express will be the Chair Car variant for travel between cities located within a distance of 150-600 km, there will also be Vande Bharat Metro for cities within 100-150 km range serving as a Urban train connectivity network and also sleeper version of the Vande Bharat Express, covering distances above 600 km, replacing Rajdhani Express in the longer run. 

Among these, Indian Railways is further working to increase the speed of the Vande Bharat sleeper version that can touch a speed of 220 kmph, 40 kmph more than that of the chair car version of the current generation of Vande Bharat trains. The semi-high speed trains will be made using aluminium, instead of steel, which will reduce the weight of the train, hence increasing the speed.

While the top speed of the sleeper version of Vande Bharat trains will be 220 kmph, making them the fastest trains in India, it will run at a speed of 200 km per hour on the tracks said an Railway official earlier. This also means, once on tracks, the new sleeper Vande Bharat trains will replace Delhi-Meerut RRTS trains as the fastest train in India. The RRTS has a top speed of 180 kmph as well.

The current gen Vande Bharat Express has a top speed of 180 kmph, but only does 160 kmph (on certain sections) due to safety constraints. The Railways has issued a tender for 400 Vande Bharat trains. Some of the initial lot of such trains could also be sleeper versions of the indigenously made trains, according to officials. Four major domestic and foreign companies have come forward for the production.

According to the plan, the first 200 Vande Bharat trains will have the seating arrangement on the lines of Shatabdi Express and will be designed to travel at a speed of 180 km per hour. 

In the second phase, 200 Vande Bharat trains will be sleepers and they will be made of aluminium. "The second version of the sleeper Vande Bharat trains will run at a maximum speed of 200 km per hour. For this, the tracks of Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata railways are being repaired, signal system, bridges are being fixed, and fencing work is going on," an official said, reported PTI.