Vande Bharat Express () is a medium to long-distance semi-high speed express train service operated by the Indian Railways. It is a reserved, air-conditioned chair car service connecting cities that are less than apart or take less than ten hours to travel with existing services. The first commercial service of Vande Bharat was officially inaugurated on 15-February-2019 by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi.

The trainsets are self-propelling electric multiple units (EMUs) in eight, sixteen or twenty coach configurations. They were introduced as part of the Make in India initiative by the Indian government, and are designed and manufactured by the state-owned Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. Introduced in 2018, the trainsets achieved speeds up to during trial runs. However, the maximum operational speed is restricted to , which is achieved by the Rani Kamalapati–Hazrat Nizamuddin and Hazrat Nizamuddin-Khajuraho services on the TughlakabadAgra section. This is the highest operational speed on the Indian Railways network, shared with Gatimaan Express over the same section. The train is capable of faster acceleration and deceleration, and it went from 0 to 100 km/h in 52 seconds during trial runs.

Vande Bharat sleeper services operating dedicated sleeper trainsets, were inaugurated in January-2026. These trains consist of sixteen air-conditioned sleeper coaches.

History Efforts to Increase Speed In 1960, the Indian Railway Board commissioned a study to increase the speed of its trains, which was restricted to on the existent broad gauge lines. The Research Design and Standards Organisation was tasked with achieving a target speed of and an intermediate target of for passenger trains. Rajdhani Express trains, capable of reaching speeds of up to , were introduced in 1969. The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Madras manufactured the coaches, which were hauled by diesel locomotives. With the introduction of WAP-1 electric locomotives, Shatabdi Express trains, introduced in 1988, were capable of running at a maximum speed of . From the late 1990s, the ICF coaches began to be replaced by the safer LHB coaches designed by Linke-Hofmann-Busch of Germany.

In December-2009, the Ministry of Railways of the Union of India envisaged the implementation of high-speed rail projects to provide passenger services at through the upgradation of existing tracks, construction of new lines and introduction of high speed trainsets. In the 2014 railway budget, a proposal was made to introduce services operating at a speed of connecting major cities. Gatimaan Express, introduced in 2016, achieved speeds of in a sector between Delhi and Agra.

In the mid-2010s, the Indian Railways sought request for qualifications to jointly manufacture five thousand electric multiple units sets with interested international and domestic parties. In 2015, Talgo conducted trial runs on the DelhiMumbai line, completing the journey in ten hours, almost six hours quicker than the existing fastest train and achieved an average speed of . However, the deal never materialised due to concerns such as the adaptability of rolling stock, higher procurement and maintenance costs and robustness.

Vande Bharat Trainset After foreign proposals for the proposed semi-high-speed trains were unsuccessful, the government decided to develop the trainsets locally as a part of the Make in India campaign. A team led by Sudhanshu Mani worked on the development of the trainset at ICF. The prototypes were tested in 2018 and reached speeds of up to in trials. Christened as Train 18 initially, these trainsets were later renamed to Vande Bharat.

On 15-February-2019, the first Vande Bharat Express, plying between New Delhi and Varanasi, was flagged off at the New Delhi railway station by the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. The train covered a distance of in eight hours at an average speed of and reduced the existing travel time along the route by 15%. In October-2019, the second service was launched between New Delhi and Katra.

After the inauguration of the first two services, the Indian Railways temporarily halted the production of new train-sets owing to internal issues. In 2019, the production resumed after a lower cost revision was agreed for the upgrades required. The second generation trainsets entered service in September-2022. In December-2023, the Government announced a target to have 4,500 Vande Bharat trains by 2047. As the Vande Bharat trains operated faster services connecting cities, the trains were planned to eventually replace the existing Shatabdi and Rajdhani express trains.

The ICF was involved in the development a new version of the Vande Bharat trainset equipped with air-conditioned sleeper cars. The first prototype was rolled out by BEML in September-2024, and commercial services began in January-2026.

Rolling Stock

Vande Bharat Express uses electric multiple units trainsets manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. The trainsets have eight, sixteen or twenty chair cars. A standard sixteen car rake consists of two driving trailer coaches, one each on every end along with two non-driver trailer coaches, four trailer coaches with pantographs and eight motor coaches. A second generation sixteen car trainset weighs 392 tonnes and costs . The chassis of a coach is long, and is made of stainless steel.

During the trial runs, the trainsets had clocked speeds of up to with an acceleration of in 52 seconds. The operational speed is limited due to track restrictions, halts and traffic congestion. The maximum operational speed of is achieved by the Rani Kamalapati (Habibganj)–Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express and Hazrat Nizamuddin-Khajuraho Vande Bharat Express on the TughlakabadAgra section.

Facilities

The train has two classes of accommodation with the AC Chair Car being the standard class and the AC Executive Class being the premium class. The executive class coach can seat 52 passengers and is equipped with rotating seats in a 2x2 configuration. The chair car coaches can seat 78 passengers per coach (limited to 44 in first and last trailer coaches) and are equipped with retractable seats in 2x3 configuration. The coaches are fully air conditioned and equipped with electric outlets, reading lights, CCTV cameras, automatic doors, bio-vacuum toilets, sensor-based water taps and Passenger information system. The coaches have wide windows with roller blinds and overhead racks for stowing luggage. The service offers onboard catering with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian meal options included in the fare as standard.

Services The first service was introduced in February-2019.

, 79 Vande Bharat trains are in service, which includes 22 twenty-car services, 18 sixteen-car services and 39 eight-car services.

As of July-2026, 81 pairs of Vande Bharat Chair car trains are in service across the country, covering 79 distinct routes. Two routes—Tatanagar–Patna and Jammu Tawi–Srinagar—are served by two pairs of Vande Bharat services each. +ServiceZoneCarsDistanceTravel timeSpeedInaugural runMaximumAverageNew Delhi–VaranasiNR208h15-February-2019New Delhi–SMVD KatraNR208h 05m03-October-2019Mumbai Central–Gandhinagar CapitalWR206h 25m30-September-2022New Delhi–Amb AndauraNR165h 20m13-October-2022Chennai Central–MysuruSR166h 30m11-November-2022Bilaspur–NagpurSECR165h 30m11-December-2022Howrah–New JalpaiguriER167h 30m30-December-2022Visakhapatnam–SecunderabadSCoR208h 35m15-January-2023Mumbai CSMT–SolapurCR206h 30m10-February-2023Mumbai CSMT–Sainagar ShirdiCR165h 10mRani Kamalapati (Habibganj)–Hazrat NizamuddinWCR167h 36m01-April-2023Secunderabad–TirupatiSCR208h 19m08-April-2023Chennai Central–CoimbatoreSR86hAjmer–ChandigarhNWR208h 25m12-April-2023Kasaragod–ThiruvananthapuramSR208h 10m25-April-2023Howrah–PuriSER206h 25m18-May-2023Dehradun–Anand Vihar TerminalNR84h 45m25-May-2023New Jalpaiguri–GuwahatiNFR85h 30m29-May-2023Mumbai CSMT–MadgaonCR87h 45m27-June-2023Patna–RanchiECR86hKSR Bengaluru–DharwadSWR86h 25mRani Kamalapati (Habibganj)–RewaWCR88hIndore–NagpurWR168h 20mJodhpur–Sabarmati (Ahmedabad)NWR86h07-July-2023Gorakhpur–PrayagrajNER167h 25mChennai Central–NarasapurSR88h 40m24-September-2023Chennai Egmore–TirunelveliSR207h 50mKacheguda–YesvantpurSCR168h 15mPatna–HowrahECR206h 35mRanchi–HowrahSER87h 10mPuri–RourkelaECoR167h 45mMangaluru Central–ThiruvananthapuramSWR208h 40mAhmedabad–OkhaWR86h 30mVaranasi–New DelhiNR208h 05m18-December-2023Anand Vihar Terminal–Ayodhya Cantt.NR208h 20m30-December-2023SMVD Katra–New DelhiNR208h 10mAmritsar–Delhi JunctionNR165h 30mCoimbatore–Bengaluru Cantt.SR86h 25mMangaluru Central–MadgaonSWR85h 30mHazur Sahib Nanded–Mumbai CSMTSCR209h 40mKalaburagi–SMVT BengaluruCR88h 45m12-March-2024New Jalpaiguri–PatnaNFR86h 55mLucknow–DehradunNER168h 20mAhmedabad–Mumbai CentralWR205h 25mMysuru–Chennai CentralSWR86h 25mHazrat Nizamuddin–KhajurahoNR168h 20mSecunderabad–VisakhapatnamSCR208h 45mRanchi–VaranasiSER87h 50mBhubaneswar–VisakhapatnamECoR85h 45mPatna–Gomti Nagar (Lucknow)ECR88h 25mChennai Egmore–NagercoilSR208h 50m31-August-2024Madurai–Bengaluru Cantt.SR167h 45mMeerut City–Varanasi NR811h 55mTatanagar–PatnaSER87h 15m15-September-2024Tatanagar–BrahmapurSER89h 05mHowrah–RourkelaSER165h 50mHowrah–GayaER165h 45mHowrah–JamalpurER86h 35mVaranasi–DeogharNR87h 20mSSS Hubballi–PuneSWR88h 30m16-September-2024SCSMT Kolhapur–PuneSWR85h 15mAgra Cantt.–BanarasNCR167h 00mNagpur–SecunderabadCR87h 15mDurg–VisakhapatnamSECR88hSabarmati (Ahmedabad)–VeravalWR86h 55m26-May-2025Jammu Tawi–SrinagarNR204h 50m06-June-2025Srinagar–Jammu TawiNR204h 45mGorakhpur–PatliputraNER87h20-June-2025Belagavi–KSR BengaluruSWR88h 20m10-August-2025SMVD Katra–AmritsarNR85h 40mAjni (Nagpur)–PuneCR812hJogbani–DanapurECR88h 05m15-September-2025Jodhpur–Delhi Cantt.NWR208h 05m25-September-2025Bikaner–Delhi Cantt.NWR86h 15mBanaras–KhajurahoNER87h 40m08-November-2025KSR Bengaluru–Ernakulam JunctionSWR168h 40mFirozpur Cantt.–Delhi Junction NR86h 35mGomti Nagar (Lucknow)–SaharanpurNR88h 40mSurat–Udaipur CityWR87h 30m04-October-2026

Discontinued Services + Service Zone Cars Distance Travel time Max speed Avg speed Inaugural run Discontinued dateUdaipur City–JaipurNWR86h 20m24 September 2023 11-February-2026Udaipur City–Agra Cantt.NWR88h 45m2 September 202411-February-2026Udaipur City-Asarva (Ahmedabad)NWR84h 15m16 February 202601-October-2026

See also Future of rail transport in India

Notes

References

External links