Railways not to produce new Vande Bharat rakes this fiscal

New Delhi: The Indian Railways will not manufacture any new rake of the Vande Bharat Express in this financial year, Railway Board Chairman V.K. Yadav said on Monday.

Yadav said, the ICF (Integral Coach Factory) plant in Chennai will not manufacture any new set of the Vande Bharat Express, which was earlier known as Train 18 in this financial year. He said the ICF will manufacture 40 sets of the Vande Bharat Express in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

The decision was taken after looking at the recommendation for some modifications in the existing design, Yadav said.

He said that another set of the Vande Bharat Express between Delhi and Katra will start in the coming days. However, he refused to share the actual dates of the new services of the train. Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Vande Bharat Express chair-car train from New Delhi to his parliamentary constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh on February 15 this year.

It covers the 850-kilometre distance in eight hours, compared to the 12 hours by other trains. The gleaming blue-nosed train comes with the best amenities, including high-speed on-board WiFi, GPS-based passenger information system, touch-free bio-vacuum toilets, LED lighting, mobile charging points and a climate control system that automatically adjusts the temperature.