Appreciations have been given in various camps, including the railways, over the announcement of railways as ‘ambitious’ in the central budget. The center has announced 400 Vande Bharat trains in the next 3 years. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Bharat Express train set would be constructed in 400 numbers in three years. It was declared in Tuesday’s railway budget. Some former railway officials have expressed doubts about how far that target can be achieved.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnau hinted at the press conference that the new trainsets could be run as an improved train at higher fares instead of running them as an alternative to first-class trains like Rajdhani-Shatabdi-Durant. There is enough demand for travel in that class of train. Now, at least two and a half times as many passengers travel in reserved seats on long-distance trains are deprived just because seats are not guaranteed.
According to the Railways, 75% of the total train passengers travel on the busiest routes. Railways had planned to run high-speed private trains on 150 such routes to increase revenue. The advanced trains will have aluminum coaches. The prototype was made after the design was finalized, the railway minister said. Production of the train will begin in the middle of the year at ICF in Chennai, RCF in Kapurthala, and Modern Coach Factory in Rae Bareli.
