Parliament Question: New Vande Bharat Trains

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1789 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2025 NEW VANDE BHARAT TRAINS 1789 THIRU D M KATHIR ANAND: SHRI BHUMARE SANDIPANRAO ASARAM: DR. SHIVAJI BANDAPPA KALGE: SHRI GYANESHWAR PATIL: SHRI NILESH DNYANDEV LANKE: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the salient features of the Vande Bharat Trains; (b) the details of the number of routes currently operational across the country, State-wise including Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh; (c) whether the Government has plans to introduce Vande Bharat trains in more train routes for the benefit of rail commuters and if so, the details thereof; (d) the details of more such trains proposed to be operated in the coming years; (e) the details of the overall utilisation of the said trains across the country; (f) whether the performance of said trains is excellent on all routes and if so, the details thereof; (g) whether the Government has any plans to reduce the ticket fare in Vande Bharat trains for the benefit of poor/lower middle class people in the country and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and(h) whether the Government proposes to provide affordable rail travel to the poor/lower middle and middle class people, if so, the details thereof including with regard to Madhya Pradesh and the steps being taken by the Government in this regard? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (h) With a view to provide better travel experience to the passengers, Indian Railways has introduced indigenously designed and manufactured Vande Bharat trains with modern coaches, advanced safety features and passenger amenities. These new Vande Bharat Trains have following features: I. Fitted with KAVACH. II. Higher acceleration with design/operating speed of 180/160 KMPH. III. Air conditioning units with indigenously developed UV-C lamp based disinfection system. IV. Jerk Free Semi-Permanent couplers. V. Centrally controlled Automatic Plug Doors and Fully Sealed wider gangways. VI. Better Ride Comfort. VII. CCTVs in all Coaches. VIII. Emergency Alarm Push buttons and Talk Back Units on all Coaches.IX. Improved fire safety – Aerosol based fire detection and suppression system in electrical cabinets and lavatories. X. For Divyangjan passengers special lavatory in the driving coaches on each end. XI. Driver-Guard communication with voice recording facility & Crash hardened memory. XII. Coach condition monitoring System (CCMS) display with remote monitoring. Further, Indian Railways has planned Vande Bharat Sleeper Trains for long and medium journey. Total 60 Rakes have been provisioned for manufacture at ICF Chennai. In addition, contracts for manufacturing of 200 Vande Bharat sleeper rakes have also been awarded to Technology Partners. Broad technological advancements and safety features provided in Vande Bharat Sleeper Trains are as below: I. Fitted with KAVACH. II. Crashworthy and Jerk-Free Semi permanent couplers and Anti Climbers. III. Crashworthy Design of Carbody complying with EN standards. IV. EN-45545 HL3 fire safety standards. V. Fire barrier doors at the end of each coach. VI. Regenerative braking system for energy efficiency. VII. Air conditioning units provided with indigenously developed UV-C lamp based disinfection system.VIII. Emergency talk-back unit for communication between Passenger and Train Manager/Loco Pilot in case of emergency. IX. Ergonomically designed ladder for ease of climbing on to upper berths. As the Railway network straddles across State boundaries, trains are introduced, as per network requirement, across such boundaries. Presently, 144 Vande Bharat train services are operational on the Indian Railways (IR) network on originating/terminating basis. This includes 22 Vande Bharat train services catering to the needs of various stations located in the State of Maharashtra and 08 Vande Bharat train services catering to the needs of various stations of Madhya Pradesh. Besides, introduction of new train services, including Vande Bharat train services, is an ongoing process on Indian Railways subject to traffic justification, operational feasibility, resource availability, etc. The overall occupancy of Vande Bharat Express trains in Financial Year 2024-25 & 2025-26 (till June, 2025) is 102.01% & 105.03% respectively. Indian Railways provide affordable transportation service to more than 720 crore passengers. The fares of Indian Railways are among the lowest in the world, even when compared with the neighbouring countries.Subsidy: The total amount of subsidy given in FY 2023-24 on passenger travel is provisionally estimated at Rs. 60,466 Crore. This amounts to 45 % subsidy on the cost of passenger travel. To provide greater accommodation to the passengers using General class Coaches, Railways have significantly increased the facilities for passengers demanding general class travel. During the last financial year 2024-25 alone, 1250 general coaches have been utilised in various long-distance trains. The percentage of non-AC coaches has significantly increased to about 70% as detailed below: Table 1: Distribution of coaches: Non-AC coaches (general and ~57,200 ~70% sleeper) AC coaches ~25,000 ~30% Total coaches ~82,200 100% Due to higher availability of general coaches, the number of passengers traveling in general/ unreserved coaches has shown an increasing trend as shown below: Table 2: Passengers in general/unreserved coaches: Year No. of Passengers 2020-21 99 Cr (Covid year)2021-22 275 Cr (Covid year) 2022-23 553 Cr 2023-24 609 Cr 2024-25 651 Cr The number of seats available for non-AC passengers has also increased over the years. The current composition is as follows: Table 3: Distribution of seats: Non-AC seats ~ 54 lakhs ~ 78% AC seats ~ 15 lakhs ~ 22% Total ~ 69 lakhs 100% Given the above data, it is clear that Indian Railways is committed to the low and middle income families who prefer railways as an affordable means of transportation. Railways have developed a fully non-AC modern train named as Amrit Bharat express. Already 14 services are in operation. These modern trains have advanced features like Semi- Automatic couplers for jerk free travel, horizontal sliding windows, foldable snack tables and bottle holders, mobile holders etc. These trains comprise 8 Sleeper Class coaches and 11 General Class coaches.Development of Amrit Bharat Express trains, manufacturing of MEMU trains, and increasing the share of general coaches clearly shows that Indian Railways is catering effectively to the demand for travel in general class. Over and above the current high share of non-AC coaches (~70% of total coaches), Railways is executing a special manufacturing programme for 17,000 non-AC general/sleeper coaches over the next 5 years. To provide greater accommodation for the passengers using General and non-AC Sleeper Coaches, the extant policy regarding composition of Mail/Express trains provides for 12 (Twelve) General class & Sleeper class non- AC coaches and 08 (eight) AC-Coaches, in a train of 22 coaches, thereby providing greater accommodation for the passengers using General and non-AC Sleeper Coaches. Further, to cater to the needs of passengers desirous of availing unreserved accommodation, Indian Railways (IR) operate unreserved non-AC passenger trains/ MEMU / EMU etc. for affordable travel, which are in addition to the unreserved accommodation (coaches) available in Mail/Express services. *****