Semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express trains have been running successfully on Indian tracks and now a new announcement has come from the Railways. It has been reported that a sleeper version of the Vande Bharat Express trains may soon hit the tracks. The trains will be designed to run at a maximum speed of 220 kilometres per hour (kmph) but they will run at 200 kmph for passenger journeys.
Currently, all the Vande Bharat trains running in the country are chair cars. They have rotating chairs and enough leg space but none of them has berths for passengers to sleep. But now, Indian Railways is all set to bring the sleeper version of the train onto tracks. Passengers will soon have the option to take semi-high-speed sleeper trains for longer journeys and reach their destinations faster.
Indian Railways has issued a tender for 400 new Vande Bharat trains. Four Indian and foreign companies have expressed interest in making these trains. Of the 400 trains, the first 200 will be chair car trains and the rest will be sleeper versions. It has also been reported that the chair car trains will be designed to run at a maximum speed of 180 kmph and will run at 130 kmph for commercial purposes.
The rest 200 trains which will be sleeper versions will be designed to run at a maximum speed of 220 kmph and to commercially operate at 200 kmph. All the 400 trains will be ready to run on tracks within the next 2 years.
The chair car versions of Vande Bharat trains will gradually replace the Shatabdi Express trains and the sleeper versions of the train will replace Rajdhani Express trains. Efforts are being made by the railways to avoid train collisions and a budget of Rs 1,800 crore has been sanctioned for the same.
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