Around 400 additional Bande Bharat trains are likely to be announced in the upcoming budget, along with the country’s first bullet train by 2026.

New Delhi: The government may announce 300-400 Bande Bharat trains in the next budget. The Railways is also aiming to roll out the first ‘standard gauge’ version of these semi-high-speed trains within the next one year. This will pave the way for its exports to Europe, South America and East Asian markets by 2025-26. The announcement of the new Vande Bharat trains will be in addition to the already announced plans to launch 475 semi high-speed trains over the next 3-4 years. Sources said the government aims to sanction 300-400 trains annually to meet the growing demand and provide a better experience to passengers.

The first set of trains with tilting technology will be available by 2025-26
About plans to improve the design of these trains to increase speed on existing tracks, a railway ministry official said that India will get the first set of trains with tilting technology by 2025-26. About 100 Bande Bharat trains out of the 475 already approved will use this technology. This will help the trains to move faster.

India to be first Vande with sleeper coaches by 2024
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnab said that the first Vande Bharat train with sleeper coaches will start in the first quarter of calendar year 2024. Currently all these trains are for broad gauge network. A ministry official said, “We will develop trains that can run on the standard gauge network. A test track with a speed of 220 kmph is being constructed in Rajasthan to carry out the necessary tests.
Vande Bharat Express: 475 Vande Bharat Express to start running before bullet train arrives, claims Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnab
First bullet train by 2026
Vaishnav recently said that Bharat Express trains will start running on 475 stations in the country in the next three years. He also said that the country’s first bullet train will be operational by 2026. At present, five Bande Bharat Express trains are running in the country. It started in 2019 with Vande Bharat between New Delhi and Varanasi. Three such new generation trains have been launched recently. The maximum speed of these trains is 180 km per hour. But currently it is running at a speed of 130 km per hour. The first bullet train project is under construction between Gandhinagar and Mumbai. The speed of the bullet train will be 320 km per hour.

400 trains were sanctioned in the last budget
The Railway Minister said at the ‘Times Now Summit’ that India is moving towards achieving the target of running trains in 475 stations. 400 trains were sanctioned in the last budget and 75 trains were sanctioned earlier. We will achieve the target in the next three years. He recently said that many countries have shown interest in the train, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to improve it further. So the Railways is working on the design of the third generation Vande Bharat Express.