Express News Service
NEW DELHI: It seems unlikely that the Railways will be able to run 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 15 this year on different routes in the country. With only 3 months left now to meet the deadline, the Railways has been able to run only 17 Vande Bharat trains.
According to experts, the Railways will have to expedite manufacturing and roll out at least three-four Vande Bharat trains every week to achieve the target of running 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 15.
According to a senior railway official, “It seems a bit difficult to run 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 15. To meet the target, the Railway will have to make sure to roll out at least 3-4 rakes of Vande Bharat trains every week. And the Railway is working on it.”
When asked whether the Railways will be able to run 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 15, Sudhanshu Mani, who is said to be the creator of train-18 and former GM of Integrated Coach Factory Chennai, said, “I do not think so. In my view, good progress is already being made and it does not matter whether we make 75 or 25 by August 15. The spirit of proliferation has been well-adopted after a period of negativity for three years.”
According to a source from the Railway Ministry, the pave on which the Vande Bharat trains are rolled out from the manufacturing units, including ICF, is not enough to meet the target of running 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 15 this year. He said that it would be good even if the Railway succeeds in running 30 Vande Bharat trains by August 15.
“In the current scenario of track upgradation, work is not keeping pace with manufacturing of trains and extra pressure to make more trains unnecessarily presents the risk of quality going down as has been reported in some recent trains,” Sudhanshu Mani told this newspaper.
He said that measures like running eight-coach Vande Bharat trains are self-defeating as a valuable path in a section is wasted for an inadequately small train. Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on a tour to Odisha to attend the flag-off event of the 17th Vande Bharat Express train from Puri to Howrah told the media that PM Narendra Modi has set a target that Vande Bharat should reach all states by June.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, as part of the 2022 Union Budget, announced that the government would manufacture 400 more Vande Bharat trains over the next three years.
Story of semi-high speed trains
First Vande Bharat was flagged off between New Delhi and Varanasi in February 2019
100kmph in 54.6 seconds is the acceleration power of Vande Bharat
120 districts are covered by Vande Bharat routes
Prominent routes include New Delhi-Varanasi, Gandhinagar-Mumbai, Chennai-Mysore, Nagpur-Bilaspur, Howrah-Jalpaiguri and Secunderabad-Vishakhapatnam
NEW DELHI: It seems unlikely that the Railways will be able to run 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 15 this year on different routes in the country. With only 3 months left now to meet the deadline, the Railways has been able to run only 17 Vande Bharat trains.
According to experts, the Railways will have to expedite manufacturing and roll out at least three-four Vande Bharat trains every week to achieve the target of running 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 15.
According to a senior railway official, “It seems a bit difficult to run 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 15. To meet the target, the Railway will have to make sure to roll out at least 3-4 rakes of Vande Bharat trains every week. And the Railway is working on it.”googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
When asked whether the Railways will be able to run 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 15, Sudhanshu Mani, who is said to be the creator of train-18 and former GM of Integrated Coach Factory Chennai, said, “I do not think so. In my view, good progress is already being made and it does not matter whether we make 75 or 25 by August 15. The spirit of proliferation has been well-adopted after a period of negativity for three years.”
According to a source from the Railway Ministry, the pave on which the Vande Bharat trains are rolled out from the manufacturing units, including ICF, is not enough to meet the target of running 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 15 this year. He said that it would be good even if the Railway succeeds in running 30 Vande Bharat trains by August 15.
“In the current scenario of track upgradation, work is not keeping pace with manufacturing of trains and extra pressure to make more trains unnecessarily presents the risk of quality going down as has been reported in some recent trains,” Sudhanshu Mani told this newspaper.
He said that measures like running eight-coach Vande Bharat trains are self-defeating as a valuable path in a section is wasted for an inadequately small train. Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on a tour to Odisha to attend the flag-off event of the 17th Vande Bharat Express train from Puri to Howrah told the media that PM Narendra Modi has set a target that Vande Bharat should reach all states by June.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, as part of the 2022 Union Budget, announced that the government would manufacture 400 more Vande Bharat trains over the next three years.
Story of semi-high speed trains
First Vande Bharat was flagged off between New Delhi and Varanasi in February 2019
100kmph in 54.6 seconds is the acceleration power of Vande Bharat
120 districts are covered by Vande Bharat routes
Prominent routes include New Delhi-Varanasi, Gandhinagar-Mumbai, Chennai-Mysore, Nagpur-Bilaspur, Howrah-Jalpaiguri and Secunderabad-Vishakhapatnam
