Indian Railways is working hard to provide users with faster travel options. The Vande Bharat Express is a pair of semi-high-speed trains that have recently arrived in India. The railway minister also confirmed that India will have 475 Vande Bharat Express trains by 2025, which is three years away. The production of these 475 trains in three years is also on track, according to Vaishnaw. During a conclave, he also mentioned the arrival of bullet trains. Bullet trains, according to the minister, will be fully operational by 2026.
The minister stated that master plans for 138 railway stations have been completed, and designs for up to 57 stations have been finalised.
“The target of having 475 Vande Bharat trains…Is on track. In the last budget, 400 trains were sanctioned and before that 75 had been sanctioned. We will be achieving the entire target in the coming three years,” he stated.
According to the minister, Vande Bharat has piqued the interest of many countries, and its quality parameters are comparable to those of world-class trains.
In response to a question about safety in the wake of cattle strikes involving Vande Bharat trains, the minister stated that the train’s ‘crumble zones’ are designed to absorb the impact, limiting damage to the front portion.
“The Vande Bharat has a design where the front portion is designed to dismantle…So only the front portion is dismantled,” Vaishnaw explained, adding that fencing work is moving quickly and will eventually solve the problem.
In response to a question about time and cost overruns on an ambitious bullet train project, the minister stated that the technology and initial design phase for such trains are extremely complex.
“…We have built close to 110 km of track already. The train will be fully operational by 2026,” Adding design changes to the Japanese model to suit the Indian environment, he said, takes time.
