Mini Vande Bharat Express: Another Modi govt gift to train passengers of these cities?

January 24,2023

After the success of Vande Bharat Express Trains in India, the Modi Government could soon roll out the mini version of the semi-high-speed trains. The Indian Railways is planning to soon run this mini Vande Bharat Express which will have only eight coaches, half of what the Vande Bharat Express has.

While the 16-coach Vande Bharat Express is currently run between big cities and has a travel time of around 6-7 hours, its mini version will be aimed at covering shorter distances and have a 4-5 hour run. The railways could run this train in small sectors where passenger load factor is comparatively less. The examples include Amritsar-Jammu, Kanpur-Jhansi and Nagpur-Pune.

The Indian Railways is aiming to flag off the first mini Vande Bharat Express as pilot in the coming months by March or April 2023. If the pilot project is successful, the Ministry of Railways could launch the mini Vande Bharat train on a pan-India level.

With the launch of the mini version of Vande Bharat Express, not only will the Railways cover shorter duration routes but could also look at increasing its revenues.

The design and seating arrangement of the 8-coach train is almost final and a prototype of the same is being made at Integral Coach Factory (ICF).

Sleeper Vande Bharat Express

Other than the mini Vande Bharat Express, passengers could soon experience the sleeper version of the semi-high-speed train. Shatabdi Express will now be replaced by the Vande Bharat Express with the sleeper version acting as an alternative to Rajdhani Express trains, according to concerned officials.

The officials added that the sleeper version of Vande Bharat Express, which has been in the headlines and attracting passengers since its launch, will be designed to travel at a speed of 220 km per hour.

Vande Bharat Express Trains in India

Currently, eight Vande Bharat Express trains are running in the country between Secunderabad - Visakhapatnam, Howrah - New Jalpaiguri, New Delhi - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, Bilaspur - Nagpur, Mumbai Central - Gandhinagar, Mysuru - MGR Chennai Central, Amb Andaura - New Delhi and Varanasi - New Delhi.