On the occasion of India’s 75th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that during the 75 weeks of Amrit Mahotsav of the nation’s Independence, as many as 75 Vande Bharat Express trains will connect every corner of the country.Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the operation of 75 Vande Bharat trains, the Ministry of Railways floated tenders for manufacturing 58 rakes, each comprising 16 coaches. Railway has planned to commission 102 semi-high-speed Vande Bharat trains with an operational efficiency of 160 kmph by early 2024, with at least 10 new trains scheduled to launch by August 2022 that will connect 40 cities.
Besides connecting all parts of India, as another highlight of PM Modi’s Independence day speech was that he mentioned linking all the state capitals of the country’s Northeast region with the Indian Railways network, speed and other glorious aspects, that is also a ‘Make in India’ boost in Indian Railways with the Vande Bharat Expresses.
Another big point, the Railway Ministry has set a target of becoming a Net Zero Carbon Emitter by the year 2030.
How Vande Bharat Express is going to be a game-changer!
These new trains would lead the great Indian Railways makeover. For the first time, the Indian Railways would be looking at competing with budget airlines, becoming more profitable in some passenger segments.
Vande Bharat Express would modernise travel experience and shift the rail network towards higher speeds right up to bullet trains.
Vande Bharat Express is an all air-conditioned chair car service with premium aircraft style comforts.
Vande Bharat is a first-of-its-kind “engine-less” train set that runs on distributed traction.
Giving boost to Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhyian,the Indian Railways has decided to procure all the components for Vande Bharat trains, right from Design, Development, Manufacture, Supply, Integration, Testing and Commissioning of IGBT based 3-Phase Propulsion, Control and Other Equipment only from Indian suppliers.
India already has the fourth-largest railway system in the world, following the US, Russia and China. As of 2019-20, the Indian Railways had 13,169 passenger trains and 8,479 freight trains. As of 2019-20, it had a total route network of 67,956 kms and introduced 153 new passenger trains in the same period. Indian Railways has logged the highest ever electrification of sections covering 6,015 Route Kilometer (RKM) in a single year during 2020-21.
More than 5 times electrification was achieved during the last seven years (2014-21) as compared to during 2007-14. By 2024, Indian railways will be run completely on electricity.
Revenue growth too has been going from strength to strength over the years. Indian Railways’ gross revenue stood at US$ 24.78 billion in FY20. RailTel, a PSU under the Railway Ministry, which provides fast and free Wi-Fi across the Indian Railways network, announced its highest ever consolidated income of Rs. 11,66.05 Crore (US$ 158.48 million) for FY19-20. This income figure is a growth of 12.3% over the consolidated income of the financial year FY18-19.
This speaks a lot about the way Indian Railways is modernising itself. Even the coronavirus compelled lockdown could not halt its progress, as Indian Railways completed eight major capacity enhancement projects by taking advantage of the lockdown. These include three super critical projects with a combined length of 68 km, three critical projects with a combined length of 45 km, upgradation of the entire 389 km railway line from Jhajha in Bihar to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya junction in Uttar Pradesh and a new 82 km port connectivity line to Paradip.With this in background, and several unique points attributed to Vande Bharat trains, the Indian Railways are going to be a game changer.
