Parliament Question: Vande Bharat Trains from New Delhi to Guwahati

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 255 TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.08.2026 VANDE BHARAT TRAINS FROM NEW DELHI TO GUWAHATI *255. SHRI PHANI BHUSAN CHOUDHURY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government proposes to extend any Vande Bharat Express from New Delhi to Guwahati and if so, the details thereof including the expected timeline;

(b) whether there is any proposal to introduce a Vande Bharat Express between Guwahati and Dibrugarh and if so, the details thereof;

(c) if not, whether the Government proposes to consider these routes in future in view of the growing passenger demand in Assam and the Northeast; and

(d) the details of Vande Bharat Express services introduced in the country since 2019 including the criteria adopted for selecting new routes, State- wise and zone-wise? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. ***** §STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.255 TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.08.2026 IN LOK SABHA

(a) to (d) Indian Railways, with a view to improve travel experience of the passengers, have introduced indigenously designed and manufactured Vande Bharat trains (Chair Car and Sleeper) with modern coaches, advanced safety features and passenger amenities.

Vande Bharat Services (Sleeper Trains):

For long distance travel the Sleeper variant of Vande Bharat Express has been indigenously designed and developed. These are aimed to improve travel experience of the passengers and set new benchmarks in terms of safe and comfortable journey. 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.

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. ● 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.

Page 1 of 8● 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 31.07.2026, the following 01 pairs of 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 Vande Bharat services (Chair Car)

Vande Bharat Chair Car services have the 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 Page 2 of 8bacteria 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 31.07.2026, the 81 pairs of Vande Bharat train services (Chair Car) are being operated on the Indian Railways network, as listed below:- SN Train No. and Name 1 22435/22436 Varanasi - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express 2 22439/22440 New Delhi - Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express 3 20901/20902 Mumbai Central - Gandhinagar Capital Vande Bharat Express 4 22447/22448 New Delhi - Amb Andura Vande Bharat Express 5 20607/20608 MGR Chennai Central - Mysuru Vande Bharat Express 6 20825/20826 Bilaspur - Nagpur Vande Bharat Express 7 22301/22302 Howrah – New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express 8 20833/20834 Visakhapatnam - Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express 9 22223/22224 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) - Sainagar Shirdi Vande Bharat Express 10 22225/22226 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) - Solapur Vande Bharat Express 11 20171/20172 Rani Kamlapati - Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express 12 20701/20702 Secunderabad - Tirupati Vande Bharat Express 13 20643/20644 Chennai - Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express 14 20977/20978 Ajmer - Chandigarh Vande Bharat Express Page 3 of 815 20633/20634 Kasargod - Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express 16 22895/22896 Howrah - Puri Vande Bharat Express 17 22457/22458 Anand Vihar - Dehradun Vande Bharat Express 18 22227/22228 New Jalpaiguri - Guwahati Vande Bharat Express 19 20911/20912 Indore - Nagpur Vande Bharat Express 20 22229/22230 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) - Madgaon Vande Bharat Express 21 22349/22350 Patna - Ranchi Vande Bharat Express 22 20661/20662 Bengaluru - Dharwar Vande Bharat Express 23 20173/20174 Rani Kamlapati - Rewa Vande Bharat Express 24 22549/22550 Gorakhpur - Prayagraj Vande Bharat Express 25 12461/12462 Jodhpur - Sabarmati Vande Bharat Express 26 22925/22926 Ahmedabad - Okha Vande Bharat Express 27 20665/20666 Chennai Egmore - Tirunelveli Vande Bharat Express 28 20677/20678 Chennai - Narsapur Vande Bharat Express 29 20703/20704 Kacheguda - Yesvantpur Vande Bharat Express 30 20631/20632 Mangaluru - Thiruvananthapuram Central Vande Bharat Express 31 26963/26964 Udaipur - Asarva Vande Bharat Express 32 22347/22348 Howrah - Patna Vande Bharat Express 33 20835/20836 Rourkela - Puri Vande Bharat Express 34 20897/20898 Howrah - Ranchi Vande Bharat Express 35 22415/22416 Varanasi - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express 36 20641/20642 Bengaluru Cantt. - Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express Page 4 of 837 20645/20646 Madgaon - Mangaluru Vande Bharat Express 38 20705/20706 Nanded - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express 39 22477/22478 New Delhi - Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express 40 22425/22426 Ayodhya Cantt. - Anand Vihar Vande Bharat Express 41 22487/22488 Delhi - Amritsar Vande Bharat Express 42 22961/22962 Mumbai Central - Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express 43 20707/20708 Secunderabad - Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express 44 20663/20664 Mysuru - Chennai Vande Bharat Express 45 22233/22234 New Jalpaiguri - Patna Vande Bharat Express 46 22469/22470 Khajuraho - Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express 47 22231/22232 Kalaburagi - Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express 48 20841/20842 Bhubaneswar - Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express 49 22345/22346 Patna - Gomti Nagar Vande Bharat Express 50 20887/20888 Ranchi - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express 51 22545/22546 Lucknow - Dehradun Vande Bharat Express 52 22489/22490 Varanasi - Meerut City Vande Bharat Express 53 20627/20628 Chennai Egmore - Nagercoil Vande Bharat Express 54 20671/20672 Madurai - Bengaluru Cantt. Vande Bharat Express 55 22499/22500 Deoghar - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express 56 22309/22310 Howrah - Jamalpur Vande Bharat Express 57 20871/20872 Howrah - Rourkela Vande Bharat Express 58 20893/20894 Tatanagar - Patna Vande Bharat Express Page 5 of 859 20891/20892 Tatanagar - Brahmapur Vande Bharat Express 60 22303/22304 Howrah - Gaya Vande Bharat Express 61 20669/20670 Hubballi - Pune Vande Bharat Express 62 20673/20674 Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj (T) Kolhapur - Pune Vande Bharat Express 63 20101/20102 Secunderabad - Nagpur Vande Bharat Express 64 20829/20830 Durg - Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express 65 21893/21894 Tatanagar - Patna Vande Bharat Express 66 21895/21896 Tatanagar - Patna Vande Bharat Express 67 20175/20176 Banaras - Agra Cantt. Vande Bharat Express 68 26901/26902 Sabarmati - Veraval Vande Bharat Express 69 26401/26402 Jammu Tawi - Srinagar Vande Bharat Express 70 26403/26404 Jammu Tawi - Srinagar Vande Bharat Express 71 26501/26502 Patliputra - Gorakhpur Vande Bharat Express 72 26751/26752 Belagavi - KSR Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express 73 26405/26406 Amritsar - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express 74 26101/26102 Pune - Ajni Vande Bharat Express 75 26301/26302 Jogbani - Danapur Vande Bharat Express 76 26481/26482 Jodhpur - Delhi Cantt. Vande Bharat Express 77 26471/26472 Bikaner - Delhi Cantt. Vande Bharat Express 78 26461/26462 Delhi - Firozpur Cantt. Vande Bharat Express 79 26651/26652 KSR Bengaluru - Ernakulam Vande Bharat Express 80 26505/26506 Khajuraho - Banaras Vande Bharat Express 81 26503/26504 Saharanpur - Gomtinagar Vande Bharat Express Page 6 of 8Presently, two pairs of Vande Bharat services viz. 22227/22228 New Jalpaiguri - Guwahati Vande Bharat Express [Chair Car] and 27575/27576 Howrah - Kamakhya Vande Bharat Sleeper Express are catering to the needs of passengers of Guwahati area.

Trains serving Delhi-Guwahati Sector and Guwahati-Dibrugarh sector:

Presently, 13 pairs of train services including 4 pairs Rajdhani Express and 1 pair of Amrit Bharat Express are catering to the needs of the passengers of the New Delhi - Guwahati Sector. These services are as under:- SN Train No. and name 1 20503/20504 Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express 2 12423/12424 Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express 3 20507/20508 Sairang-Anand Vihar (T) Rajdhani Express 4 20501/20502 Agartala-Anand Vihar (T) Tejas Rajdhani Express 5 15671/15672 Kamakhya - Rohtak Amrit Bharat Express 6 15909/15910 Dibrugarh-Lalgarh Avadh Assam Express 7 12505/12506 Kamakhya-Anand Vihar (T) Northeast Express 8 14037/14038 Silchar-New Delhi Poorvottar Sampark Kranti Express 9 15623/15624 Bhagat Ki Kothi-Kamakhya Express 10 14619/14620 Agartala-Firozpur Express 11 15657/15658 Delhi-Kamakhya Brahmaputra Mail 12 22449/22450 Guwahati-New Delhi Express 13 15621/15622 Kamakhya- Anand Vihar (T) Express

Train services connecting Guwahati and Dibrugarh:- Presently, 12 pairs of train services are catering to the needs of the passengers of the Guwahati-Dibrugarh sector. These services are as

under:- SN Train No. and Name 1 12423/12424 Dibrugarh - New Delhi Rajdhani Express 2 20503/20504 Dibrugarh - New Delhi Rajdhani Express Page 7 of 83 15949/15960 Dibrugarh - Gomti Nagar Amrit Bharat Express 4 13281/13282 Dibrugarh - Rajendra Nagar (T) Express 5 15669/15670 Guwahati - Dibrugarh Nagaland Express 6 15903/15904 Dibrugarh - Chandigarh Express 7 15909/15910 Dibrugarh - Lalgarh Avadh Assam Express 8 15927/15928 Rangiya-New Tinsukia Express 9 15945/15946 Lokmanya Tilak(T) - Dibrugarh Express 10 15959/15960 Howrah - Dibrugarh Express 11 22501/22502 SMVT Bengaluru - New Tinsukia Express 12 22503/22504 Kanniyakumari - Dibrugarh Express Besides, introduction of new train services on any route/section, including Vande Bharat Service is an on-going process, which 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 ● Occupancy and the traffic requirement of the section ***** Page 8 of 8