Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Saturday said Vande Bharat sleeper trains will start running in six months. The minister said 10 Vande Bharat sleeper trains will start trial run in the next four-five months following which the commercial operations will begin. Speaking to the media after inspecting the manufacturing of Vande Bharat sleeper coaches at BEML campus in Bengaluru, the minister said the Railways has placed orders for 100 more Amrit Bharat (non-A/c sleeper) trains in view of rising demand. The Railways has so far launched 41 Vande Bharat express trains and two Amrit Bharat trains. Vaishnaw said that Vande Bharat will be introduced in three formats – Vande Bharat trains, Vande Sleeper and Vande Metro. These AC trains will have 16 coaches including eleven 3-tier, four 2-tier, and one 1st class and are designed to clock a max speed of 160 kmph, he said. Explaining the features of Vande Bharat sleeper coaches, the minister said vibration and noise level in the sleeper coaches will be close to nil. “The roof, car body, and load are specially designed with increased capacities. The sleeper train will have a total of 67 berths. The climbing ladder for the sleeper berth, especially the contact area of the foot, will be very different, accessible and easy to use. The AC will be controlled, the furnishings such as the cushion are tech-enabled giving a new experience. The mobile charging and storage spaces are designed even better," he added. Vaishnaw stated that couplers, anti-climbers, kavach among other features are installed to make travel safer and more efficient. The features also include those meant for kinetic energy absorption. “The first sleeper coach is completed and it has got a very new design. We will now be working on scaling up the design of the coach before putting it on trail run. 10 trains will be set for trial run in the next four-five months following which the train is set for commercial operations,” Vaishnaw said. The minister also stated that the manufacturing of one coach for Vande Bharat train is comparatively lower than manufacturing metro trains, given the 'Make In India' push in manufacturing the high speed express train. “The Vande Bharat train is completely designed in-house, in India, right from the designing stage. The technicians, engineers and other manufacturers all from India, which is making the manufacturing cost more feasible than metro trains. A metro coach can cost around Rs 9 to 10 crore, while the Vande Bharat coach is around Rs 8 to 9 crore,” he said.
