Today, any conversation about Indian Railways is incomplete without mentioning the Vande Bharat Express. This train has become the new face of Indian Railways and a milestone for the “Make in India” initiative. The electric multiple-unit Vande Bharat Express, formerly known as Train 18, was created by the Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) after being developed by the Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO). RDSO has standardized the Vande Bharat Express design and standards.
“Train 18” was inaugurated on February 15, 2019, after four years of planning, manufacturing, and testing. On January 27, 2019, Train 18 was renamed the Vande Bharat Express by the Indian Railways.
The Vande Bharat Express features an aerodynamic external look with more comfort and better aesthetics. This modern train set has a number of coaches permanently coupled together, and all the equipment for powering air conditioning, lighting, and other amenities is all passed on the train, with no locomotive. It has many advantages, such as redundancy, comfort, efficiency, and maintainability. The railway travels at a maximum speed of 160 kmph, and the bogies’ cutting-edge suspension technology and completely suspended traction motors provide for smoother, safer operation. The roof-mounted package unit (RMPU) of the Vande Bharat Express has photocatalytic UV air purification technology as well. Outside the coach, it features four platform-side cameras, GPS, automatic doors, fire sensors, CCTV cameras, onboard Wi-Fi, and four rear-view cameras.
(Source: Wikipedia, CNBCTV18)
The Vande Bharat Express is being compared to the bullet train, and people are talking about the revolution in Indian Railways.
If this indigenous product can compete with foreign train networks, is this a revolution in the journey of Indian Railways?
When compared to modern bullet train sets, the maximum speed of the Vande Bharat Express is 160 kmph with an average of 90 kmph, whereas the bullet train can run up to a speed of 350 kmph. The real problem in India is with the track system. The Vande Bharat runs on conventional tracks in India, which differ from area to area within the country, limiting its speed to 160 kmph in some areas and reducing it to 100–110 kmph in others. On conventional routes such as these, the Vande Bharat Express is comparable to trains like the Shatabdi or Rajdhani, which have been providing their services for decades. To achieve higher speed targets, the tracks should be fenced properly. We must analyze the cost of fencing the tracks versus the maintenance of the aerodynamic structure of high-speed trains due to clashing animals.
Most of the train sets used in the Vande Bharat Express are indigenous, but some fundamental things are being imported, such as the wheels, chairs, automatic doors, and some technology. With the government’s move towards privatization of the Railways, private companies are getting tenders to make train sets and railway lines. However, the major question is what our engineers are getting from it. There is no point in these private tenders if we cannot apply them to ourselves and upgrade them according to indigenous resources. The transfer of technology is a must.
In conclusion, the Vande Bharat Express is undoubtedly a big milestone in the journey of Indian Railways, but we are still quite short of competing with foreign legacy networks. There are some points where we still have to improve and dedicate ourselves if we want to improve our standing among the developed nations of the world. We must continue to work towards making the Indian Railways a world-class transportation system.
