Vande Bharat sleeper may debut from Delhi

The Indian Railways is likely to operate the first Vande Bharat Sleeper service, the longer distance variant of its modern semi-high-speed trains, from the national capital. Officials said the service will cover a roughly 1,000-kilometre distance from Delhi, with Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Patna via Varanasi, among tentative destinations.

"The primary focus is to improve availability of trains on high demand routes," a senior official told ET, adding that a final decision on the routes will be taken soon.

The national transporter is expected to run 24-car sleeper train sets on the Vande Bharat platform, designed to run at a maximum speed of 180 km per hour, with a service speed of 160 km per hour. "The service will be launched in the coming weeks," the official added.

Earlier, responding to queries in the Rajya Sabha, Union railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said that Vande Bharat Sleeper trains had been planned for long and medium distance journeys. The minister said the design of the trains to be manufactured by the Indian Railways had been finalised, with 10 Vande Bharat Sleeper trains under production as of July. Further production of 50 Vande Bharat Sleeper rakes has been taken up by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai. Contracts for manufacturing of 200 Vande Bharat Sleeper rakes have also been awarded to technology partners.

The Indian Railways currently runs 150 Vande Bharat train services of chair car variant. These indigenously developed modern trains are faster but limited to day-time routes. Introduction of sleeper trains will usher in improved passenger comfort for overnight journeys.

Overall occupancy of Vande Bharat Express trains in 2024-25 stood at 102.01% and in the first quarter of this financial year at 105.03%.

In addition to Vande Bharat, the Indian Railways is manufacturing about 17,000 general and non-air-conditioned coaches over the next five years, According to Vaishnaw, the number of general class coaches has substantially increased over the past few years.