Railway Board officials said that the 16-coach and 8-coach rakes (trains) that will be vacant after the upgradation will be used to start Vande Bharat train services on new routes. Know the full details.
The Railway Board has decided to increase the number of coaches in Vande Bharat trains running on seven major routes in view of the high demand and occupancy of passengers. According to officials, the 8 coach and 16 coach trains currently operating on these routes will be upgraded to 16 coaches and 20 coaches respectively. Apart from this, Vande Bharat trains will also be started on some other new routes.
Dilip Kumar, Executive Director (Information and Publicity), Railway Board, said, “Currently, four 8-coach and three 16-coach Vande Bharat trains are operating on seven routes. Now there is a plan to upgrade 16-coach trains to 20-coach and 8-coach trains to 16-coach.” He further said, “Based on the occupancy and feasibility of the financial year 2025-26 (up to 31 July 2025), a tentative plan has been made to upgrade three 16-coach Vande Bharat trains to 20-coach and four 8-coach trains to 16-coach.”
These seven routes will be upgraded
1. Mangaluru Central–Thiruvananthapuram Central
2. Secunderabad–Tirupati
3. Chennai Egmore–Tirunelveli
4. Madurai–Bengaluru Cantt
5. Deoghar–Varanasi
6. Howrah–Rourkela
7. Indore–Nagpur
Of these, the Mangaluru Central–Thiruvananthapuram Central, Secunderabad–Tirupati and Chennai Egmore–Tirunelveli routes currently have 16-coach Vande Bharat trains, which will be upgraded to 20-coach. On the remaining four routes, 8-coach trains will be converted to 16-coach.
Trains will also start on new routes
Railway Board officials said that the 16-coach and 8-coach rakes (trains) that will be vacant after the upgradation will be used to start Vande Bharat train services on new routes. In addition, more 20-coach Vande Bharat trains will be prepared for launch and one 16-coach train will also be available for upgradation.
Scheme based on occupancy
Dilip Kumar said, “A tentative plan has been made for the replacement of Vande Bharat train services based on occupancy. After this process, the vacant 16-coach and 8-coach rakes will be used to start new services.” This move is an important initiative by the Railways to meet the growing demand of passengers and further improve the travel experience.
Vande Bharat trains are quite popular among passengers for their speed, amenities and reliability, and this upgrade will benefit more passengers. The Railway Board has also ensured that this upgrade will be done in a planned manner and giving priority to passenger convenience. The date of introduction of trains on new routes and other details will be announced soon.
