India's groundbreaking Vande Bharat trains, marking the country's foray into semi-high-speed rail travel, have garnered immense popularity among commuters. According to recent media reports, the Indian Railways is gearing up to introduce nine more Vande Bharat Express trains on various routes. The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai is diligently working on crafting the carriages for these nine upcoming trains.
While the preliminary routes for five out of these nine Vande Bharat Express trains have been tentatively assigned, the remaining ones have been designated to the Southern Railways but have not yet been finalised. The five prospective Vande Bharat routes are as follows:
1. Indore - Jaipur Vande Bharat Express 2. Jaipur - Udaipur Vande Bharat Express 3. Puri - Rourkela Vande Bharat Express 4. Patna - Howrah Vande Bharat Express 5. Jaipur - Chandigarh Vande Bharat Express
The Vande Bharat trains, celebrated as India's pioneers in semi-high-speed rail travel, have gained popularity for their top-notch passenger amenities. Currently, there are 25 Vande Bharat Expresses operating across India, covering a network of 50 routes. These trains are distributed across various railway zones in India, including four in the Northern Zone, three each in the Southern and Central Zones, two each in the Western, West Central, and North Western Railway Zones, and one in each of the South East Central, Eastern, East Coast, South Central, South Eastern, Northeast Frontier, East Central, South Western, and North Eastern Railway Zones.
In parallel developments, the trial run of Odisha's second Puri-Rourkela Vande Bharat Express commenced on a recent Monday. This train will ply the Puri-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Dhenkanal-Angul-Rourkela route, serving passengers traveling between the coastal and western regions of Odisha. Notably, Odisha's maiden Vande Bharat Express from Puri to Howrah was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May.
In a remarkable milestone, over 1 lakh passengers have opted for Vande Bharat trains within a span of just one month. As per the Central Railways, a staggering 1.22 lakh passengers boarded Vande Bharat trains within the Central Railway region from August 15 to September 8. This surge in ridership translated to a substantial revenue of 107.2 million in just one month, as reported by the news agency ANI.
Furthermore, the media release also highlighted impressive occupancy rates for other Vande Bharat trains, such as the Nagpur-Bilaspur Express (106.40%), CSMT Shirdi Express (81.33%), Shirdi-CSMT Express (81.88%), CSMT Solapur Express (93.71%), Solapur-CSMT Express (105.09%), and Madgaon Express (92.05%).
