India’s home-grown semi-high-speed train is at centre of railway modernisation
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India PM Narendra Modi at the launch of a Vande Bharat Express at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai on Feb 10, 2023.
PHOTO: PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
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NEW DELHI – Indians may have to wait before they travel by bullet train but a home-grown, semi-high-speed version called Vande Bharat is picking up speed, becoming the most visible sign of a railway modernisation drive.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Feb 10 flagged off two Vande Bharat trains, which can travel at a maximum speed of 160kmh, from the nation’s financial capital Mumbai to Solapur (a textile hub about 450km away) and Shirdi (a major pilgrimage site about 246km away).
“It is a reflection of speed and scale of India’s growth,” he said.
This takes the total number of semi-high-speed trains to 10 since 2019, connecting 17 states.
The government is planning to launch 75 such trains in 2023 before India heads into a general election in 2024, and 400 in three years’ time.
Said a railway ministry official: “The basic purpose is that people should get a better experience of the railways. They (Vande Bharat) are next-generation trains in terms of speed, facilities and convenience. They cut down travel time (compared with other trains) by at least 15 to 20 per cent.
“All major cities will be connected throughout the country,” added the official.
Fares range from 500 rupees (S$8) to just short of 3,000 rupees.
Unlike other trains in India, the Vande Bharat ones have automatic doors, revolving seats, hands-free taps, CCTV cameras and meters for passengers to check the speed.
They are made at a state-owned factory in southern city Chennai, with additional manufacturing announced in the northern cities of Latur in Gujarat and Sonipath in Haryana state and via private participation.
India has one of the largest railway networks in the world, with tickets kept affordable. Between April and November 2022, state-run Indian Railways carried over 4.184 billion passengers. Before the pandemic, the trains on average transported 22 million passengers every day.
The speedy roll-out of the semi-high-speed trains comes even as India’s first bullet-train project, connecting Ahmedabad and Mumbai, faces multiple delays,
The initial deadline of 2023 is set to be missed, with no fresh target announced. Japan is providing a loan covering 81 per cent of the project cost at an interest rate of 0.1 per cent per annum with the repayment period stretching to 50 years.
Still, the Modi government is betting big on the railways. The annual budget, presented on Feb 1, hiked the capital outlay for railways by 48 per cent to 2.4 trillion rupees from 2022’s 1.62 trillion rupees.
Plans include a launch of India’s first hydrogen-powered train
Indian Railways is also upgrading 1,275 stations and recently launched an app that will allow passengers to order food through WhatsApp from restaurants close to stations.
Experts said India needs to do more.
“Vande Bharat is a good effort and whatever technology is available in India has been put together and upgraded to come up with a train capable of running at 160kmh,” said Mr Alok Kumar Verma, a retired official from the Indian Railway Service of Engineers.
“There is a lot more that has to be done. Indian Railways needs to add a lot of new tracks and raise speed on existing lines and improve signalling,” he added.
The Vande Bharat trains are being run on existing tracks.
“If you go back, Indian Railways had a plan to reach 160kmh speed from 1997, at around the same time when China was raising it to the same speed. But there was no commitment from the (previous) government for whatever reasons,” noted Mr Verma.
China has a vast high-speed rail network with speeds ranging from 200kmh to 350kmh.
Nevertheless, the Vande Bharat trains are seen as one of the government’s achievements, with Mr Modi, who is seeking a third term in the general election in 2024, personally flagging off the roll-out of each new train.
India PM Narendra Modi speaking with students at the launch of a Vande Bharat Express in Mumbai on Feb 10, 2023.
PHOTO: PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
In India, the launch of new trains has also always held political significance.
The trains are expected to be highlighted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the run-up to elections
“There are two aspects to this initiative. One, of course, is connectivity. But there is also a political aspect,” said Dr Surendra Jondhale, a Mumbai-based political analyst.
He noted that the trains would be highlighted by the Maharashtra state BJP in upcoming corporation elections in Mumbai.
Mr Modi also alluded to how parliamentarians are keen for the trains to pass through their constituencies. “Earlier MPs used to request short train stoppages in their region but now demand Vande Bharat trains. Such is its craze,” he said on Feb 10.
