Indian Railways Has New Vande Bharats, But Where Are the Trains for Ordinary Passengers?
Northern Railways fete passengers of Vande Bharat sleeper train at New Delhi (Image Northern railways)
By SANJAY SINGH
Special trains for Bihar and a sleeper Vande Bharat from Bengaluru highlight the railway’s priorities. With regular express trains running full weeks in advance, passengers are paying the price of a growing capacity crisis.
New Delhi, November 5, 2026 — Indian Railways has announced a large number of Bihar-bound special trains this week, while unveiling a sleeper-branded Vande Bharat train from Bengaluru. Yet the announcements expose a fundamental contradiction in the railway’s priorities: the government is showcasing premium trains while ordinary passengers struggle to find confirmed tickets on regular services.
The problem is not confined to Chhath, when millions of people travel to Bihar to celebrate the festival with their families. Nearly two months before the festival, express trains serving Bihar were already reporting that tickets had been booked. The seasonal rush is predictable. What is increasingly difficult to explain is why passengers face similar problems on routes across the country, with confirmed tickets becoming elusive even two weeks before departure.
The railways capacity crisis is becoming a passenger crisis.
Under the Narendra Modi government, Indian Railways has increasingly projected its modernisation through branded services such as Vande Bharat. These trains represent technological progress and offer a premium travel experience. But railway modernisation cannot be measured solely through sleek trains, attractive branding and higher-fare services.
The ordinary passenger needs something more basic: a train ticket that can actually be booked.
The government has repeatedly highlighted the expansion of railway infrastructure since 2014, including record additions of railway lines and multiple-track corridors. Yet the passenger experience raises an uncomfortable question: what is the point of expanding infrastructure if ordinary travellers continue to struggle for a confirmed seat?
The shortage of regular express and passenger trains has created a parallel transportation market. Passengers who cannot secure railway tickets are increasingly forced to turn to buses for long-distance journeys.
For families travelling during festivals, students, migrant workers and people with urgent commitments, this is hardly a convenient alternative. Bus fares can become exorbitant during peak demand, while long journeys bring additional discomfort and uncertainty.
Special trains provide temporary relief, but they are not a substitute for sustained capacity expansion. Announcing additional trains after demand has overwhelmed regular services is reactive management, not a long-term passenger strategy.
Indian Railways remains the transportation lifeline for millions. Its public-service responsibility cannot be reduced to premium branding and infrastructure statistics.
A railway that celebrates its achievements must also answer a simple question: why are ordinary passengers still unable to find a confirmed ticket?
Until that question is addressed, the Vande Bharat revolution will remain incomplete.
The Mumbai Sub-Urban remains an abiding example of monumental failure of the Railways where the passengers risk their lives to broad trains to reach their destinations. The situation is stark in unreserved compartments on heavy traffic rail routes.
Irony is however that the Northern Railways came with a reel-induced hallucination to shower flowers on passengers who travelled in the first Varanasi-New Delhi sleeper Vande Bharat train.
The passenger who cannot afford a premium fare, cannot secure a confirmed berth and must pay through the nose for a bus ticket deserves to be at the centre of railway policy—not at its margins.
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