New non-AC Vande Sadharan train arrives in Mumbai for testing as the Vande Bharat Express

 New non-AC Vande Sadharan train arrives in Mumbai for testing as the Vande Bharat Express

On Sunday, October 29, the brand-new Vande Sadharan Push-Pull train arrived at Mumbai's Wadi Bunder yard. According to reports cited by the Times of India, it would go through testing next week. 

According to the reports, a 22-coach LHB non-AC 3-tier sleeper train is about to offer passengers reasonably priced prices. There is enough for 1,800 people on the train. It can go at up to 130 kmph when pulled by two WAP5 locomotives, each of which has a streamlined nose, they said.

According to the newspaper, the testing are anticipated to occur along the Mumbai-Nashik route, with an emphasis on the steep terrain. The train might run between Mumbai and Delhi, for example. Inquiries were not answered by officials, the report said. 

More sleeper Vande Bharat trains are on the horizon.

According to PTI, Railway Board Secretary Milind Deouskar said on October 12 that the Indian Railways will be introducing the Vande Bharat Metro and Sleeper Coach.

He said, "We are thinking about Vande Bharat Sleepers and Vande Bharat Metro trains to live up to the throughput, speed, and accessibility expectations," in a speech at the CII rail conference.

The idea behind Vande Bharat

Ashwini Vaishnaw, the minister of railways, had previously posted pictures of the "concept train-Vande Bharat (sleeper version)" on social media.

The Vande Bharat Express sleeper trains have 16 coaches and can carry up to 887 people. They are designed to reach maximum speeds of 160 km/h.

According to BEML's CMD Shantanu Roy, there might be more than ₹2 lakh billion in opportunity size for the rail and metro sector over the next seven years, which includes Vande Bharat trains and metro tenders in Mumbai, Chennai, as well as Patna.

Plan of production

A manufacturing schedule for 102 Vande Bharat rakes has been provided by Indian Railways; 35 will be built in 2022–2023 and 67 in 2023–2024. According to the PTI article, these rakes would be produced at the Integral Coach Factory, the Rail Coach Factory, and the Modern Coach Manufacturing.

Seventy-five of these Vande Bharat rakes are chair car variants, while the others are intended to be sleeper versions.

Additionally, 400 Vande Bharat trains (the sleeper variant) using three distinct technologies are being manufactured by Indian Railways. To choose technology partners for in-house production inside Indian Railways Production Units, tenders have been released.