Parliament Question: Safety Standards for Vande Bharat Trains

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5481 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.03.2026 SAFETY STANDARDS FOR VANDE BHARAT TRAINS 5481. SHRI JAGADISH SHETTAR: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the roadmap for launching Vande Bharat sleeper trains and the manner in which the safety standards for these high-speed trains are being ensured; (b) the details of the measures being initiated to address the issues of fraudulent ticket bookings touting and the challenges faced by passengers in getting confirmed tickets; and (c) the details of the steps being taken to increase the number of non-AC affordable coaches in long-distance trains in light of complaints regarding overcrowding in General/Non-AC coaches? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (c) Indian Railways (IR) is focussed on providing affordable, good quality services to all sections of society. With a view to improve travel experience of the passengers, Indian Railways have introduced indigenously designed and manufactured Vande Bharat (Sleeper & Chair Car), Amrit Bharat, Namo Bharat Rapid Rail services with modern coaches, advanced safety features and passenger amenities. Vande Bharat services (Chair Car): Indian Railways, with a view to improve travel experience of the passengers, have introduced indigenously designed and manufactured Vande Bharat trains with modern coaches, advanced safety features and § Page 1 of 15passenger amenities. These Vande Bharat Chair Car Trains have following features: ● Jerk Free Semi-Permanent couplers. ● Fitted with KAVACH ● Centrally controlled Automatic Plug Doors and Fully Sealed wider gangways. ● Emergency Alarm Push buttons and Talk Back Units on all Coaches. ● Improved fire safety – Aerosol based fire detection and suppression system in electrical cabinets and lavatories. ● Higher acceleration with design/operating speed of 180/160 KMPH. ● Driver-Guard communication with voice recording facility & Crash hardened memory. ● 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. ● Better Ride Comfort. ● CCTVs in all Coaches. ● For Divyangjan passengers special lavatory in the driving coaches on each end. ● Coach condition monitoring System (CCMS) display with remote monitoring As on 18.03.2026, the following 162 Vande Bharat train services (Chair Car) are being operated on the Indian Railways network, as under:- SN Train No. and Name 1 22435/22436 New Delhi - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express Page 2 of 152 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 5 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 Page 3 of 1519 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 27 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 Page 4 of 1538 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 50 20887/20888 Varanasi - Ranchi Vande Bharat Express 51 22545/22546 Dehradun - Lucknow 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 Page 5 of 1557 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 72 26751/26752 KSR Bengaluru - Belagavi Vande Bharat Express 73 26406/26405 Amritsar - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express Page 6 of 1574 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 Sleeper Train services: For long distance travel the Sleeper variant of Vande Bharat Express has been indigenously designed and developed. Two such trains have already been manufactured. After extensive trials, these trains have been introduced on Indian Railways. The First Vande Bharat Sleeper service viz. 27575/27576 Howrah- Kamakhya Vande Bharat Sleeper Express has commenced regular operation w.e.f. 22.01.2026. The process of development of new rolling stocks like Vande Sleeper necessitates a holistic approach, combining technological innovation, strategic planning and manufacturing to ensure a safe, reliable and comfortable travel. This involves development of prototype, extensive testing and trials followed by series production. To improve travel experience of the passengers and 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: Page 7 of 15● 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. ● 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. As on 18.03.2026, the following 02 Vande Bharat train services (Sleeper Car) are being operated on the Indian Railways network: SN Train No. and Name 1 27575/27576 Howrah - Kamakhya Vande Bharat Sleeper Express Page 8 of 15Besides, introduction of new train services, including Vande Bharat sleeper services, replacement/discontinuation of existing services is an on-going process, depends on various factors which include- ● 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. ● Occupancy and the traffic requirement of the section. Non-AC Coaches[General and Sleeper] 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. With a view to meet the demand of passengers travelling in unreserved 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. In the current financial year (upto February, 2026), 860 Coaches have been utilised for permanent augmentation. To cater to the travel demand of the low and middle income families, Indian Railways have taken up manufacturing of 17,000 non-AC coaches (general/sleeper). On IR, the percentage of non-AC coaches, is about 70% as indicated below: Page 9 of 15Table 1: Distribution of coaches: Non-AC coaches (general and sleeper) ~62,000 ~70% AC coaches ~27,000 ~30% Total coaches ~89,000 100% 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. 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% Amrit Bharat service: To provide affordable means of transportation to the low and middle income families, Indian Railways have introduced Amrit Bharat services that are fully non-AC modern trains. The present composition of Amrit Page 10 of 15Bharat consists of 11 General Class coaches, 8 Sleeper Class coaches, 01 Pantry car and 02 Luggage cum Divyangjan coaches. High Speed and enhanced Safety standards are the hallmarks of these trains with following enhanced features and amenities: i. Better aesthetics of seat and berths with enhanced look & feel on the lines of Vande Bharat Sleeper. ii. Jerk Free Semi-Automatic Couplers. iii. Improved Crashworthiness in coaches by provision of crash tube. iv. Provision of CCTV system in all coaches. v. Improved designs of toilets. vi. Improved design of Ladder for ease of climbing on to the berth. vii. Improved LED Light fitting & Charging Sockets. viii. Provision of EP assisted braking system. ix. Aerosol based fire suppression system in toilets and electrical cubicles. x. USB Type-A and Type-C mobile charging sockets. xi. Emergency Talk Back system for two-way communication between Passenger and Guard/Train Manager. xii. Non-AC pantry with enhanced heating capacity. xiii. Fully sealed gangways with quick release mechanism for easy attachment and detachment. As on 18.03.2026, the following 60 Amrit Bharat Express services are being operated on the Indian Railways network: SN Train No. and Name 1 11015/11016 Lokmanya Tilak (T) - Saharsa Amrit Bharat Express 2 13697/13698 Gaya - Delhi Amrit Bharat Express 3 15293/15294 Muzaffarpur - Charlapalli Amrit Bharat Express Page 11 of 154 15557/15558 Darbhanga - Anand Vihar (T) Amrit Bharat Express 5 15561/15562 Darbhanga - Gomtinagar Amrit Bharat Express 6 15567/15568 Bapudham Motihari - Anand Vihar (T) Amrit Bharat Express 7 22361/22362 Rajendranagar (T) - New Delhi Amrit Bharat Express 8 13433/13434 SMVT Bengaluru - Malda Town Amrit Bharat Express 9 13435/13436 Malda Town - Gomtinagar Amrit Bharat Express 10 15133/15134 Chhapra - Anand Vihar (T) Amrit Bharat Express 11 14047/14048 Sitamarhi - Delhi Amrit Bharat Express 12 14627/14628 Saharsa - Chheharta Amrit Bharat Express 13 19623/19624 Madar - Darbhanga Amrit Bharat Express 14 16601/16602 Erode - Jogbani Amrit Bharat Express 15 19021/19022 Udhna - Brahmapur Amrit Bharat Express 16 15671/15672 Kamakhya - Rohtak Amrit Bharat Express 17 20609/20610 New Jalpaiguri - Tiruchchirappalli Amrit Bharat Express 18 16597/16598 SMVT Bengaluru - Alipurduar Amrit Bharat Express 19 11031/11032 Panvel - Alipurduar Amrit Bharat Express 20 16107/16108 Tambaram - Santragachi Amrit Bharat Express 21 13065/13066 Howrah - Anand Vihar (T) Amrit Bharat Express 22 22587/22588 Sealdah - Banaras Amrit Bharat Express 23 20603/20604 New Jalpaiguri - Nagercoil Amrit Bharat Express 24 15949/15950 Dibrugarh - Gomti Nagar Amrit Bharat Express Page 12 of 1525 16121/16122 Tambaram - Thiruvananthapuram Central Amrit Bharat Express 26 16329/16330 Nagercoil - Mangaluru Amrit Bharat Express 27 17041/17042 Charlapalli - Thiruvananthapuram North Amrit Bharat Express 28 16619/16620 Podanur-Dhanbad Amrit Bharat Express 29 16357/16358 Nagercoil-Charlapalli Amrit Bharat Express 30 15673/15674 Charlapalli - Kamakhya Amrit Bharat Express Special trains IR also operates Special train services during festivals, holidays, etc. to cater to the extra needs of passengers and supplement the accommodation available by regular services. Accordingly, the number of Special trains operated across the Indian Railways network, to facilitate the passengers during Summer/winter vacations, festivals etc. are as below: Year No. of trips 2023-24 ~40,500 2024-25 ~85,400 2025-26 (upto Feb, 2026) ~74,800 Ticket Bookings: The measures taken by Indian Railways to address the issues of fraudulent ticket bookings and touting are as under: Page 13 of 151. Regular checks are conducted in mass contact areas such as Passenger Reservation System (PRS) centres, Booking Offices, Platforms, Trains etc. to prevent unauthorized ticketing activities. Such checks are intensified during peak period like festivals, holidays etc. 2. Public are also educated through Public Address System and media, not to buy tickets from unscrupulous elements and consequences of buying tickets from these unauthorised sources. 3. Regular drives are conducted by RPF against touts over Indian Railway and action is taken against persons found involved in touting as per the provisions contained in the Railways Act. Cases having wider ramifications and involving ingredients of other offences are dealt in coordination with other law enforcement agencies like Police & CBI. 4. Regular Cyber patrolling through cyber cells of RPF is done to prevent activities of touts using illegal softwares for cornering of tickets and action is taken against them as per extant legal provisions. Besides, Indian Railways have also taken various measures to keep a check on the activities of unscrupulous elements involved in malpractices in reservation, some of which are as under: - i. With effect from 01-07-2025, tickets under Tatkal Scheme can be booked through the website of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)/its app only by Aadhaar authenticated users. Further, agents are barred from booking opening day Tatkal tickets during the first 30 minutes of opening of Tatkal booking. ii. During the opening day of general reservation of ARP, the reserved general tickets can be booked through the website of IRCTC or its app only by Aadhar authenticated users. Page 14 of 15iii. Instructions have been issued to ensure that tickets are not booked on abbreviated names and full name of the passenger and the surname wherever applicable are captured at the time of booking reserved tickets. iv. Carrying of prescribed identity proof has been made compulsory for one of the passengers while undertaking journey in reserved class. v. With a view to curb the activities of unscrupulous elements involved in unauthorized ticketing activities, regular checks are conducted by Commercial, Vigilance and Security Departments. Such checks are intensified during peak rush periods like festivals, holidays etc. vi. Surveillance at reservation offices has also been stepped up by installing Close Circuit Television at important PRS locations. ***** Page 15 of 15