MISSION ZERO COMPLAINTS

WITH THE VANDE BHARAT TRAINS A SHOWPIECE OF ITS GRAND MODERNISATION PLANS, THE RAILWAY MINISTRY IS FINE-TUNING AND CORRECTING ALL SHORTCOMINGS

- AVISHEK G. DASTIDAR

Not long ago, railway passengers had to endure 11 or more hours of train travel— assuming it ran on time—to travel the 770-km distance between Delhi and Varanasi. The only quicker option was taking a flight. All that changed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the first Vande Bharat Express at New Delhi in February 2019.

The gleaming white train was different. For starters, it didn’t need an engine to pull it. It featured 16 newly designed chair cars and had a top speed of 160 kmph. The Vande Bharat marked India’s first tryst with semi-high-speed ‘trainset’ technology, designed and built in India.

Its older cousins, the Rajdhanis and the Shatabdis, with their maximum speeds of 110 kmph, instantly paled in comparison. Thanks to the new technology of fully electric, self-propelled coaches, this train could accelerate and decelerate much faster than conventional loco-hauled trains. The impact was evident as it trimmed the travel time between Delhi and Varanasi by three hours, compared to the fastest trains on the route.

Beyond speed, the Vande Bharat’s interiors mirrored modern trains in developed countries—the engineers claimed they were inspired by highspeed trains in Europe. It had reclinable seats that rotated 180 degrees to face the direction of the journey and automatic, sensor-driven doors between coaches. There were biovacuum, modular toilets with ‘touch-free’ fittings, ‘airline-like’ lighting, screen-based passenger information system in every coach, charging points under every seat, wi-fi, even a specially curated menu. The look and feel were a marked departure from other railway offerings. So was the ticket price, often about double that of other trains.