Can India's Made in India Vande Bharat Express Revolutionize Public Transportation?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday flagged off the Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express train here. The train connects Secundrabad to the IT hub of Hyderabad.

This is the second train for the Telugu-speaking state within a span of three months. The train will operate under South-Central Railway Zone.

A week ago, the Prime Minister flagged off the first Vande Bharat train for the state of Madhya Pradesh between Bhopal and New Delhi. On its inaugural run, the train reached a maximum velocity of 160 kmph, the highest-ever speed achieved by a train in India. On this particular route, Vande Bharat Express has reduced the travel time by about an hour, covering 700 kilometers in approximately seven and a half hours. 

Home-grown project

Vande Bharat Express, a fully home-grown project of the Indian government, is the future of railways in India. The train has been designed and manufactured indigenously under the Make in India campaign. It is currently built in Chennai's Integral Coach Factory (ICF). The train matches global performance standards, safety, and passenger comfort yet costs less than half of global prices.

Currently, a total of 11 Vande Bharat trains are operational, covering routes such as Delhi-Varanasi, Delhi-Katra, Gandhinagar-Mumbai, Howrah-New Jalpaiguri, Secundrabad-Vishakhapatnam, Mumbai-Shirdi, and a few others.

Features and Amenities

The Vande Bharat Express has an Intelligent Braking System, which breaks automatically in emergencies. The Regenerative Braking System of this train can recover up to 30% of the total electric energy used. Additionally, the trains have fully automatic doors, GPS-enabled audio-visual passenger information systems, onboard hotspot Wi-Fi, bio-vacuum toilets, and a host of other useful features. Every coach also has a dedicated pantry. The train consists of 16 coaches, two executive coaches, and a seating capacity of 1,128 passengers. The train also has provisions for Divyang-friendly services.

Vande Bharat 2.0

The new and upgraded Vande Bharat Express was launched from Gandhinagar to Mumbai on September 30th, 2022. The upgrades included the increased capacity to reach 180 kmph due to its lighter build at 392 tons, which is a significant improvement from the prior 430 ton weight. The new trains are also equipped with the indigenously developed train collision avoidance system KAVACH, which provides improved train control. The fire safety system has also been improved to house the superior Aerosol-based fire detection and suppression system in all electrical cubicles and toilets.

Plans for the Future

The government plans to introduce 400 new Vande Bharat trains in the next three years. The railways also plan to upgrade their other coach factories in Kapurthala and Raebareli to manufacture semi-high-speed trains for faster production and convenient delivery. Additionally, the Indian Railways hopes to fully upgrade the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata high traffic routes to 160 kmph speed potential in the coming years.

Glitches and Collisions

Vande Bharat Express faced some red flags regarding passengers' structural integrity and safety when it collided with buffaloes and cows on its Mumbai-Gandhinagar route. The front part of the fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) was damaged. In another incident, the train suffered a technical glitch in its traction motor in one of its coaches. The timely implementation of ambitious ideas and consideration of the needs of all travel classes will go a long way towards assuring the Vande Bharat project's success.