Vande bharat express – Train 18 A Great success

vande bharat express train introduction

Vande Bharat Train is a short distance train service, to connects major Indian cities to other cities. This train is a day train service . It is a semi-high speed capable train with a speed limit of 160 km/h. This speed limit depends on the speed capacity of the track, traffic congestion and stoppages.

Vande Bharat train has been designed by “Research Design and Standards Organisation” and manufactured by “Integral Coach Factory”. It is designed for low-cost maintenance and operational optimization.

This is a train with 16 chair car coaches. Its price is approximately Rs 115 crores.The draft of Vande Bharat was prepared in 2018, hence it was named Train-2018, it was also called Train 18.

On 27 January 2019, train 18 set was named Vande Bharat Express, with its first service commencing on 15 February 2019.

Replacement of shatabdi train

Shatabdi Express was launched in 1988 to provide short distance, fast and modern service between major cities, similar to Shatabdi Express, Vande Bharat train was also started for the same purpose. The effort was to replace all the existing Shatabdi trains. Due to internal issues of Indian Railways, new production was stopped after the inauguration of the first two Vande Bharat services. After the intervention of the Railway Minister,

it was decided to produce the sets again.These second generation trainsets were developed in 2022 and entered service on 30 September 2022. It has now been planned that all Shatabdi Express trains will be phased out and replaced by Vande Bharat trains.

Engineers and designers who made Vande Bharat trains successful

From designing the Vande Bharat train to running it successfully, a group of engineers and designers have achieved this feat by working day and night. About some of those engineers and designers:

It was under the chairmanship of Sudhanshu Mani (General Manager Integral Coach Factory) that this train got its first success.

D.P.Dash: Chief design engineer, electrical Indian Railways had organized a rail development camp in Surajkund, Haryana in 2016. He had presented his idea for such a train to senior railway officials. Which was selected.

Manish Pradhan:  who was the engineer in-charge of the decoration of Vande Bharat trains, decided to have white colored trains along with his inspiring group of engineers.

Shubhranshu:  was the Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer of the unit leading the team at that time. According to him, he has portrayed this train like a luxury car and not like a train. It has six coatings of paint and the last one is a transparent coat that keeps dust away.

S P Vavre :  chief design engineer electrical, ICF;

N K Gupta : principal chief electrical engineer, ICF; 

S Srinivas: chief planning engineer, ICF;

Amitabh Singhal: senior administrative grade officer, ICF;

L C Trivedi: principal chief mechanical engineer, ICF

Features and Amenities in Vande Bharat Train

• Intelligent braking system which enables better acceleration and deceleration.
• All coaches are equipped with automatic doors; 
• GPS based audio-visual passenger Information system,  
• On-board hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes, 
• Very Comfortable seating.
•  The executive class  has rotating chairs.
• All toilets are bio-vacuum type. 
• The lighting is dual mode.
• The Vande Bharat Express has all 16 coaches are air-conditioned. 
• The total seating capacity is 1,128 passengers.
• Also Provision for Divyang-friendly facilities.
• Adding up the green footprints, the train has a regenerative braking system in the Vande Bharat Express coaches which can save up to 30% of electrical energy.

The broad technical specification of the train would be as under : 

1. 160 km/h speed; test speed 180km/h
2. Maximum design axle load : 17t, Preliminary designed achieving 16.5t
3. Starting acceleration: 0.8m/sec² , peak Deceleration : 1m/sec²
4. Wheel –mounted brake disc
5. Fully suspended traction motors 
6. 180⁰ rotatable seat in Ex-class
7. Slide forward seat in Eco class
8. State-of-art pantry equipment on-board
9. Moulded FRP Interior with Modular FRP toilets
10. Continuous windows in side walls

Vande Bharat Journey

Conclusion

The success of Train 18 has promoted India’s self-reliance in the railway sector and provided a foundation for future developments in high-speed rail technology