India’s fastest train, the Vande Bharat Express is running successfully on 25 routes across India. Every single one of these semi-high speed trains are inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, revealing the importance of these modern and fast trains for the current BJP regime. However, there has been a dry spell of two months ever since the last Vande Bharat train was flagged off by PM Modi in July 2023. In between, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Railway Minister of India revealed the new Saffron coloured Vande Bharat Express.
Media reports now suggest that the Indian Railways is now preparing to launch 9 Vande Bharat Express trains soon. The rakes to run on these 9 trains are being readied by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) Chennai. Of these, poll-Bound Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will get the maximum trains. The ministry of railways is expected to host a big event and launch a number of trains together.
Tentative upcoming Vande Bharat Express routes
Route 1: Indore – Jaipur Vande Bharat Express
Route 2: Jaipur-Udaipur Vande Bharat Express
Route 3: Puri – Rourkela Vande Bharat Express
Route 4: Patna-Howrah Vande Bharat Express
Route 5: Jaipur-Chandigarh Vande Bharat Express
These five routes of the Vande Bharat Express have already been assigned, while three routes have been assigned to the Southern Railways, however the names are yet to be finalised. It’s not yet clear where the last Vande Bharat Express will be deployed.
Vande Bharat Express Routes
As of date, 25 Vande Bharat Express trains are running across India, covering 50 routes, 25 each up and down. Four of these are in the Northern Zone, 3 in Southern and Central Zones, 2 in Western, West Central and North Western Railway Zones and 1 in South East Central, Eastern, East Coast, South Central, South Eastern, Northeast Frontier, East Central, South Western and North Eastern Railway.
G20 Delegates Impressed With Vande Bharat
A delegation of media persons from G20 countries earlier travelled on the Gandhinagar-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express and expressed their happiness on the travel experience. Sharing the video on Twitter, Western Railway wrote, “the epitome of Indian engineering and comfort, as they journey aboard the world-class, indigenously-made #VandeBharatExpress from Gandhinagar Capital to the financial heart of India, Mumbai.”
About Vande Bharat Express
The project to manufacture indigenous semi-high-speed train sets began in mid-2017, and within 18 months, the ICF Chennai completed Train-18. India’s first semi-high-speed train was renamed Vande Bharat Express in January 2019 to emphasize its made-in-India status. The train achieved a maximum speed of 180 kmph on the Kota-Sawai Madhopur section.