Vande Bharat Express

Vande Bharat Express
Vande Bharat Express
	Vande Bharat Express trains in different liveries
Overview
Service type	Inter-city semi-high-speed rail
Status	Active
Predecessor	Shatabdi Express
First service	15 February 2019
Website	indianrail.gov.in
Route
Line(s) used	70
On-board services
Class(es)	AC Chair Car (CC); AC Executive Class (EC);
Seating arrangements	Airline style; Rotatable seats (EC);
Catering facilities	On-board catering
Observation facilities	Wide windows
Entertainment facilities	on-board WiFi; infotainment system; electric outlets; reading light;
Baggage facilities	Overhead racks
Other facilities	Automatic doors; smoke alarms; CCTV cameras; odour control system; bio-vacuum toilets; sensor-based water taps; roller blinds;
Technical
Rolling stock	Vande Bharat (trainset) (chair car); Vande Bharat (sleeper trainset) (sleeper);
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC via overhead line
Operating speed	160 km/h (99 mph) (maximum); 83 km/h (52 mph) (average);
Average length	384 m (1,260 ft) (16 coaches); 192 m (630 ft) (8 coaches); 480 m (1,570 ft) (20 coaches);

Vande Bharat Express is a medium to long-distance Higher-speed rail (Indian English: Semi-High Speed) Express train service. It is a reserved, air-conditioned chair car service connecting cities that are less than 800 km (500 mi) apart or take less than ten hours to travel with existing services and a planned reserved, air-conditioned sleeper service connecting cities that are 800 km (500 mi) to 1,200 km (750 mi) apart. The train was a part of the 'Make in India' initiative by the government and entered commercial service on 15 February 2019.

The chair car trainsets are self-propelling Electric Multiple Units (EMUs) with eight, sixteen or twenty coaches. The trainset was designed and manufactured by Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. Introduced in 2018, the trainsets achieved semi-high speeds of 183 km/h (114 mph) on trials, and crossed target trial speed of 180 km/h (110 mph) on trials, but the maximum operational speed is 160 km/h (99 mph) which is achieved by the Rani Kamalapati (Habibganj)–Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express and Hazrat Nizamuddin-Khajuraho Vande Bharat Express on the Tughlakabad–Agra section. This is the highest operational speed on the Indian Railways network, shared with Gatimaan Express over the same section. A notable feature of Vande Bharat Express is its faster acceleration and deceleration, because of which it went from 0 to 100 km/h in just 52 seconds during trial which is quicker than some high-speed trains. The sleeper trainsets are EMUs with sixteen coaches.