Semi high speed Vande Bharat Express trains built with indigenous technology are plying between 21 states. Vande Bharat is currently not operating in Bihar, Jharkhand and Goa.
The government claims that from the month of June, 28 states of the country will get the gift of Vande Bharat. Due to non-electrification of railway routes in the seven states of the North-East, there is a delay in the running of semi-high speed trains. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to flag off the Vande Bharat train next week in Assam.
A senior Railway Board official said, the first Vande Bharat train was run between Delhi-Varanasi. After this, this train was run between Delhi-Jammu. The official said that currently Vande Bharat is operating in a total of 21 states including Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Jammu-Kashmir, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and South Indian states.
The official claimed that by the end of June, Vande Bharat trains will be started between Patna-Hatia and Patna-Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Goa-Mumbai (Maharashtra) in Bihar. In this way all 28 states will get Vande Bharat trains. Electrification work is going on in the railway routes in the North Eastern states. With the completion of the work, operations of Vande Bharat will be started. it will take time. However, Vande Bharat will be started on May 29 between Guwahati-Newjalpaiguri in Assam.
400 Vande Bharat tender issued
Railway Board officials said, so far 34 Vande Bharat trains (17 pairs) have been run. The number will go up to 36 after the Assam-bound train runs on May 29. The official claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of running 75 Vande Bharat trains to every nook and corner of the country by August 15, 2025, would be achieved. The tender for 400 Vande Bharat trains has been issued by the Railways.
Presently one Vande Bharat train is being produced every week at ICF, Chennai. Soon the production of Vande Bharat trains is going to start in a phased manner at MCF, Rae Bareli, Rail Coach Factory, Latur-Maharashtra and BHEL, then production of 3-4 trains per week will start. Due to which the target of 75 Vande Bharat can be easily achieved.
