Indian Railways will within the coming years improve 40,000 standard coaches to “Vande Bharat standards”. The nationwide transporter launched the primary Vande Bharat premium practice in 2019. The Vande Bharat Express is a self-propelled semi-high pace practice service that’s more and more being seen because the face of change for passenger journey on Indian Railways.
“Forty thousand normal rail bogies will be converted to the Vande Bharat standards to enhance safety, convenience and comfort of passengers,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned in her Union Budget 2024 speech on February 1.

What does the Vande Bharat normal imply?

Vande Bharat trains of their present type are all air-conditioned chair automobile providers for brief to medium distance journey. A sleeper model of Vande Bharat, anticipated to be superior to Rajdhani Express trains, is anticipated to be rolled out by March this yr.
So when FM Nirmala Sitharaman introduced that 40,000 Indian Railways coaches can be transformed to Vande Bharat requirements, what did she imply?
Also Read | How will Vande Bharat sleeper train be better than the Rajdhani Express? Top passenger-friendly features to know
According to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the improve of 40,000 coaches relies on the expertise of Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat coaches. By studying from the expertise of those trains, Indian Railways is engaged on how these 40,000 coaches could be upgraded, he has mentioned.
Giving examples, Vaishnaw defined that each Amrit Bharat and Vande Bharat trains have semi-permanent couplers, which improve the security of those trains. Similarly, these 40,000 coaches can have charging factors for mobiles and laptops, computerized measurement system of water, GPS, CCTV cameras and many others.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has additionally clarified that this improve is not going to imply that non-AC coaches can be transformed to air-conditioned coaches. In case of non-AC coaches for instance, the bogs can be upgraded to higher high quality, the seats can be made higher and many others.
From the Railway Minister’s statements it’s clear that the nationwide transporter will remodel its current standard coaches to “Vande Bharat standards” by including extra passenger facilities and security options, drawing from passenger suggestions and expertise on the Vande Bharat Express trains. An instance of that may additionally been seen within the lately launched Amrit Bharat Express practice, which is a push-pull practice with locomotives at every finish for quicker acceleration and deceleration. Several passenger facilities and security options within the Amrit Bharat Express trains have been offered taking cues from the Vande Bharat trains – reminiscent of semi everlasting couplers, sealed gangways, higher bogs, cell charging factors, higher cushioned seats, ambient lighting and many others.