look news india
Indian Railways has completed preparations for a big gift for millions of railway passengers going home during the festive season. After achieving tremendous success in the chair car category, now semi-high-speed ‘Vande Bharat Sleeper’ trains are going to start operating in the country for long distance night travel. The Railway Administration is first introducing the Vande Bharat Sleeper between the two busiest and important corridors—Mumbai to Bengaluru and New Delhi to Varanasi. Capable of running at a speed of 160 kilometers per hour, this train will not only reduce the travel time by a huge 6 to 8 hours, but will also allow the passengers to experience modern airplane-like facilities and world-class comfort.
This new sleeper train, connecting Maharashtra’s financial capital Mumbai with the country’s major IT hub Bengaluru, will completely change the journey between the two metros. As per the proposed schedule, this train will depart from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai and reach Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal (SMVT) in Bengaluru. This train will take only 15 hours 45 minutes to cover this distance of 1,118 kilometers, which will save about 6 hours 20 minutes in travel time compared to the existing Udyan Express.
As per the proposed timetable, this train will depart from Mumbai (CSMT) at 8:10 pm and reach Bengaluru (SMVT) at 11:55 am the next day. In return, it will depart from Bengaluru at 7:50 pm and reach Mumbai at 11:55 am the next morning. En route it will stop at major industrial and commercial cities like Kalyan, Pune, Solapur, Kalaburagi, Raichur, Guntakal and Anantapur. This service will be operated six days a week.
The route of New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat Sleeper has been decided to speed up religious, business and tourism traffic between Uttar Pradesh and National Capital Region. This train will prove to be a premium overnight option especially for the travelers from Purvanchal, Prayagraj and Kanpur who have to reach the capital the next morning for work or studies.
As per the proposed timetable (train number 27421), this train will depart from Varanasi Cantt at 8:50 pm. It will reach Prayagraj Junction at 10:35 pm and after a halt of 5 minutes, it will depart further at 10:40 pm. After this, it will reach New Delhi at 12:40 pm via Kanpur Central at 5:55 am the next morning. In the return direction, train number 27422 will depart from New Delhi at 9:40 pm, reach Prayagraj at 4:45 am the next morning and reach Varanasi at 6:45 am. This train will also run 6 days a week except Saturday.
The Railway Ministry has adopted a transparent kilometer-based formula regarding Vande Bharat sleeper fare. According to information shared in Parliament, the Vande Bharat sleeper fare has been fixed between Rs 2.40 to Rs 3.80 per passenger per kilometre. The base fare for Third AC (3AC) has been kept at Rs 2.40 per kilometer (GST exclusive), which means that the base fare for a 3AC ticket for a journey of approximately 1,000 km will be around Rs 2,400.
Second AC (2AC) and First AC (1AC) fares will be equivalent to Flexi and Premium slabs of Rajdhani Express respectively. Although this fare is higher than that of normal mail-express trains, the Railways clearly states that this fare is quite affordable in India compared to the equivalent high-speed sleeper services running in countries like China, Japan or France (where the rates are Rs 7 to Rs 20 per km). The most important thing is that no RAC seat will be allotted in this train; Passengers will get only confirmed or waiting list tickets.
Vande Bharat Sleeper trains are equipped with fully air-conditioned (AC) rakes of 16 coaches, with a total sleeping capacity of 823 passengers. Its coaches are much more advanced than the traditional ICF or LHB coaches. These include odorless bio-vacuum toilets, automatic plug doors, sensor-based intercommunication doors, separate USB charging ports on every berth, reading lights and wide berths with better cushioning. Semi-permanent couplers and better suspension system have been installed in the train to prevent shaking, so that passengers can sleep without any disturbance even at high speed.
For safety, the train has ‘Kavach’ anti-collision system, fire extinguisher sensor, emergency talk-back unit and CCTV cameras inside the coaches. Apart from this, Railways has set reserved quota of lower berths for senior citizens, women above 45 years of age and pregnant women, so that the elderly and women can ensure comfortable travel.