Vande Bharat: High on branding, low on speed
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, June 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi now identifies with Vande Bharat trains, flagging off them for launches to position the self-propelled trainsets as top notch railway achievement of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
Modi flagged off five Vande Bharat trains yesterday with much fanfare. Union Minister for Railways appears to be singularly focused in rolling out Vande Bharat trains.
But the Vande Bharat trains being rolled out on Shatabdi train routes don’t have the speed to live up to the buzz around the brand. While the Vande Bharat trains were positioned as India’s answer to the semi-high speed trains, the Railways appears to have forgotten to do the basic work, as the national transporter rolls out one after another self-propelled trainset.
The Ranchi-Patna Vande Bharat train has the lowest average speed of 63 kmph. Anand Vihar Terminal to Dehra Doon, launched on May 25, has the second lowest average speed of 64 kmph. Mumbai-Shirdi Vande Bharat also has the average speed of 64 kmph.
Out of 23 Vande Bharat trains launched so far, 10 of them have average speed in 70s, between 70 kmph to 78 kmph. Seven such Vande Bharat trains have average speed in 80s, kmph. Only two Vande Bharat trains are running at an average speed in excess of 90 kmph.
New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat has the top average speed of 96 kmph. New Delhi-Bhopal comes second with the average speed of 94 kmph. New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat was the first to be launched as a showcase to connect with the parliamentary constituency of the prime minister.
The Railways is planning to launch 75 Vande Bharat trains this year to create a buzz around the achievements of the Modi government in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. But the Railways forgot to do the basic work of upgrading the rail tracks to enable the Vande Bharat to run at maximum speed of such trainsets which range between 110-130 kmph.
“New Delhi-Bhopal Vande Bharat was supposed to be the first to go off the shelf, and Aswini Lohani, the former Chairman of the Railway Board, had got the track ready for the train to run at top speed. Talgo trainset trial was also held on this track, which was meant to be semi-high speed. But now track upgradation to support higher speed appears not to be the priority,” said a senior official of the Railway Board.
“Five Vande Bharats to be launched by PM today, rising after the cloud of tragedy at Balasore. Happy as the leader? Sure but av. speed table shd mellow down the euphoria as it is deployed nowhere near its potential. Hoping to see more stress on Safety: track works & Kavach. Soon!,” tweeted Mani Sudhanshu, who is said to have created Vande Bharat or Train 18. But the Ministry of Railways has launched a blitzkrieg, taking television crews onboard the Vande Bharat trains to help amplify the buzz around the trainsets.
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