Railway eyes mobile phone and perishable goods transport through Vande Parcel train service

The Indian Railways is readying a faster and smoother Vande Bharat parcel service for catering to movement of small - but valuable and fragile - goods through its network. According to officials aware of the plan, these faster trains will run as scheduled services over routes where high value items such as mobile phones, and perishable but expensive export goods such as roses and orchids, move through the national transporter.

“Designs for these trains are being finalised for approvals. They will build upon the Vande Bharat platform and will be oriented for parcel movement,” the official told ET while adding that Vande Bharat trains are more expensive and comfortable than conventional Indian Railways rolling stock.

“There needs to be a higher value proposition for these trains to carry goods. They will run over routes that can be covered within 12-24 hours to ensure speedier delivery of products,” he added.


Presently there are 136 Vande Bharat train services operational on the Indian Railways, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha this week.

Responding to a query in the lower house, he said further manufacturing of Vande Bharat Chair Car rakes is under progress. In addition to this, Vande Bharat Sleeper Trains for long and medium Interstate journey have also been planned.

Vaishnaw also said 10 Vande Bharat Sleeper trains are under production and Indian Railways has provisioned another 50 Vande Bharat Sleeper rakes. Besides these, contracts for manufacturing of 200 Vande Bharat sleeper rakes have also been awarded.