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Vande Bharat Express trains for global markets! Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that Indian Railways will now look to develop Vande Bharat Express trains for international markets. Vande Bharat Express trains, launched in 2019, signifty new age travel experience on Indian Railways.
During the inaugural ceremony of Qualcomm’s Chennai Design Center, Vaishnaw said that the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai will now focus on developing standard gauge Vande Bharat trains specifically for export purposes. Standard gauge rakes, commonly used in railways worldwide, will now be a part of ICF’s export strategy alongside the broad gauge Vande Bharat trains currently being manufactured for domestic use, Vaishnaw said.
The Railway Minister stressed on the importance of starting the design process for Vande Bharat standard gauge trains now to ensure timely production and approval for future export opportunities. This would help enhance ICF’s export potential as well. “If we have to export Vande Bharat rakes five years from now we have to start now the process of designing as the process of designing, testing, getting national and international approval and manufacturing is a lengthy process,” he said.
Vande Bharat Express trains are semi-high speed self-propelled train sets capable of running at speeds of 160 kmph. In their present form, the Vande Bharat trains are AC chair car services meant for day journeys across short to medium distances. The train offers several firsts on Indian Railways; automatic interconnecting doors, fully sealed gangways, aircraft style comforts etc. The distributed power train set allows for faster acceleration and deceleration, hence reducing the travel time.
Given the demand for premium trains for overnight travel, Indian Railways is also manufacturing a sleeper version of the Vande Bharat Express with features superior to the Rajdhani Express trains. The first prototype of the new Vande Bharat sleeper is being manufactured at BEML’s Bengaluru facility and the Railway Minister recently inaugurated its car body. The train is expected to be ready in the coming months. BEML has been given the order to manufacture 10 Vande Bharat sleeper train sets to begin with.
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