Parliament Question: Expenditure on Vande Bharat Trains

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 540 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026 EXPENDITURE ON VANDE BHARAT TRAINS *540. SHRI MALAIYARASAN D: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the total expenditure incurred by the Government on the manufacturing and introduction of Vande Bharat trains so far, including funds allocated to the Integral Coach Factory and other production units; (b) whether the Government has conducted any assessment regarding passenger demand, affordability of fares and overall performance of these trains since their introduction; and (c) the steps being taken by the Government to expand the network of Vande Bharat Express trains and ensure their connectivity to smaller cities and underserved regions under the Indian Railways? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. ***** §STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.540 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026 IN LOK SABHA (a) to (c) Indian Railways (IR) is focussed towards providing affordable and good quality service to all sections of society. Taking this initiative forward, IR has indigenously designed and developed the Chair Car and Sleeper version of Semi High-speed Vande Bharat Trainsets for enhanced passenger mobility and better travel experience. To set new benchmarks in terms of safe and comfortable journey, these train sets have been provided with modern coaches having advanced safety features and passenger amenities like:  Jerk-Free Semi permanent couplers and Anti Climbers  Fitted with KAVACH.  Higher acceleration with design/operating speed of 180/160 KMPH.  Crashworthy Design of Car body complying with EN standards.  Fire barrier doors at the end of each coach for compliance of fire safety standards.  Improved fire safety – Aerosol based fire detection and suppression system in electrical cabinets and lavatories.  Regenerative braking system for energy efficiency.  Air conditioning units provided with indigenously developed UV-C lamp-based disinfection system for deactivating 99 % harmful bacteria from conditioned air to improve the hygiene standards inside the passenger area.  Centrally controlled Automatic Plug Doors and Fully Sealed wider gangways.  CCTVs in all coaches.  Emergency talk-back unit for communication between Passenger and Train Manager/Loco Pilot in case of emergency.  For Divyangjan passengers, special lavatory in the driving coaches on each end.  Centralized Coach Monitoring System for better condition monitoring of passenger amenities such as Air conditioning, Saloon Lighting etc.  Ergonomically designed ladder for ease of climbing on to upper berths in sleeper class. Page 1 of 6The Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) for capital investment in Railways has increased substantially from ₹ 29,055 crore in 2013–14 to ₹ 2.78 lakh crore in 2026–27. This enhanced budgetary support has enabled significant investments in network expansion, safety improvements, passenger amenities, road safety works, technology upgradation and rolling stock augmentation including Vande Bharat manufacturing. Indian Railways (IR) caters to various segments of the travelling public and, accordingly, operates different types of train services like Suburban/Non-suburban ordinary train services, Mail/Express, Amrit Bharat, Vande Bharat, Vande Bharat Sleeper, Namo Bharat Rapid Rail, Tejas, Humsafar, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and Garib Rath services etc. While deciding the fare structure of various types of passenger services due consideration is given to aspects like the cost of service, value of service, type of services/facilities offered, affordability, competition from other competing modes and socio-economic considerations etc. Accordingly, Vande Bharat trains operate as a distinct passenger service segment having specific fare structure. Vande Bharat Services have been widely accepted across the country. During 2024-25, the average occupancy of VB trains was approximately 100%. Vande Bharat services (Chair Car): As of now, 81 pairs of Vande Bharat train services (Chair Car) are presently being operated on the Indian Railways network, as under:- SN Train No. and Name 1 22435/22436 New Delhi - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express 2 22439/22440 Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express 3 20901/20902 Gandhinagar Capital - Mumbai Central Vande Bharat Express 4 22447/22448 Amb Andura - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express Page 2 of 65 20607/20608 Mysuru - MGR Chennai Central Vande Bharat Express 6 20825/20826 Nagpur - Bilaspur Vande Bharat Express 7 22301/22302 New Jalpaiguri - Howrah Vande Bharat Express 8 20833/20834 Secunderabad - Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express 9 22223/22224 Sainagar Shirdi - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express 10 22225/22226 Solapur - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express 11 20171/20172 Nizamuddin - Rani Kamlapati Vande Bharat Express 12 20701/20702 Tirupati - Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express 13 20643/20644 Coimbatore - Chennai Vande Bharat Express 14 20977/20978 Chandigarh - Ajmer Vande Bharat Express 15 20633/20634 Thiruvananthapuram- Kasargod Vande Bharat Express 16 22895/22896 Puri - Howrah Vande Bharat Express 17 22457/22458 Dehradun - Anand Vihar Vande Bharat Express 18 22227/22228 Guwahati - New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express 19 20911/20912 Nagpur - Indore Vande Bharat Express 20 22229/22230 Madgaon - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express 21 22349/22350 Ranchi - Patna Vande Bharat Express 22 20661/20662 Dharwar - Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express 23 20173/20174 Rewa - Rani Kamlapati Vande Bharat Express 24 22549/22550 Gorakhpur - Prayagraj Vande Bharat Express 25 12461/12462 Sabarmati - Jodhpur Vande Bharat Express 26 22925/22926 Okha - Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express Page 3 of 627 20665/20666 Tirunelveli - Chennai Egmore Vande Bharat Express 28 20677/20678 Narsapur - Chennai Vande Bharat Express 29 20703/20704 Yesvantpur - Kacheguda Vande Bharat Express 30 20631/20632 Thiruvananthapuram- Mangaluru Vande Bharat Express 31 26963/26964 Udaipur - Asarva Vande Bharat Express 32 22347/22348 Patna - Howrah Vande Bharat Express 33 20835/20836 Puri - Rourkela Vande Bharat Express 34 20897/20898 Ranchi - Howrah Vande Bharat Express 35 22415/22416 New Delhi - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express 36 20641/20642 Coimbatore - Bengaluru Cant Vande Bharat Express 37 20645/20646 Mangaluru - Madgaon Vande Bharat Express 38 20705/20706 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) - Nanded Vande Bharat Express 39 22477/22478 Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express 40 22425/22426 Anand Vihar - Ayodhya Cantt. Vande Bharat Express 41 22487/22488 Amritsar - Delhi Vande Bharat Express 42 22962/22961 Mumbai Central - Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express 43 20707/20708 Visakhapatnam - Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express 44 20663/20664 Chennai - Mysuru Vande Bharat Express 45 22233/22234 Patna - New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express 46 22470/22469 Khajuraho - Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express 47 22231/22232 Bengaluru - Kalburagi Vande Bharat Express 48 20841/20842 Visakhapatnam - Bhubaneswar Vande Bharat Express 49 22345/22346 Gomti Nagar - Patna Vande Bharat Express Page 4 of 650 20887/20888 Varanasi - Ranchi Vande Bharat Express 51 22545/22546 Dehradun - Lucknow Jn Vande Bharat Express 52 22490/22489 Varanasi - Meerut City Vande Bharat Express 53 20627/20628 Nagercoil - Chennai Egmore Vande Bharat Express 54 20671/20672 Bengaluru Cantt - Madurai Vande Bharat Express 55 22500/22499 Deoghar - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express 56 22309/22310 Jamalpur - Howrah Vande Bharat Express 57 20871/20872 Rourkela - Howrah Vande Bharat Express 58 20893/20894 Patna - Tatanagar Vande Bharat Express 59 20892/20891 Tatanagar - Brahmapur Vande Bharat Express 60 22303/22304 Gaya - Howrah Vande Bharat Express 61 20669/20670 Pune - Hubballi Vande Bharat Express 62 20673/20674 Pune - Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express 63 20101/20102 Secunderabad - Nagpur Vande Bharat Express 64 20829/20830 Visakhapatnam - Durg Vande Bharat Express 65 21893/21894 Patna - Tatanagar Vande Bharat Express 66 21895/21896 Patna - Tatanagar Vande Bharat Express 67 20176/20175 Banaras - Agra Cantt. Vande Bharat Express 68 26901/26902 Veraval - Sabarmati Vande Bharat Express 69 26401/26402 Srinagar - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express 70 26403/26404 Srinagar -Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express 71 26502/26501 Patliputra - Gorakhpur Vande Bharat Express Page 5 of 672 26751/26752 KSR Bengaluru - Belagavi Vande Bharat Express 73 26406/26405 Amritsar - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express 74 26101/26102 Pune - Ajni Vande Bharat Express 75 26302/26301 Jogbani - Danapur Vande Bharat Express 76 26481/26482 Delhi Cantt - Jodhpur Vande Bharat Express 77 26471/26472 Delhi Cantt - Bikaner Vande Bharat Express 78 26462/26461 Delhi - Firozpur Cantt. Vande Bharat Express 79 26651/26652 Ernakulam - KSR Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express 80 26506/26505 Khajuraho - Banaras Vande Bharat Express 81 26504/26503 Saharanpur - Gomtinagar Vande Bharat Express Vande Bharat services (Sleeper): The Sleeper variant of Vande Bharat trains has also been developed for long distance travel. As on 25.03.2026, following 01 pair of Vande Bharat Sleeper Express is being operated on the Indian Railways network, as under: SN Train No. and Name 1 27575/27576 Howrah - Kamakhya Vande Bharat Sleeper Express Besides, introduction of train services, including Vande Bharat and its variants, on any route/section, is an on-going process and depends on various factors including: ● Capacity of that section. ● Availability of path. ● Availability of required rolling stock. ● Availability of matching infrastructure for rolling stock. ● Maintenance requirement of railway tracks and other assets. ***** Page 6 of 6