Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written response to the Lok Sabha on Thursday (July 25) informed that out of the 102 Vande Bharat trains operating across the country, 16 serve Maharashtra. “As on 19th July, 2024, 102 Vande Bharat Express services are operating on the Indian Railways network. Of these, 16 Vande Bharat Services are catering to the needs of the stations located in the State of Maharashtra,” Vaishnaw said.
“Besides, introduction of new train services, including Vande Bharat Express services, is an ongoing process on Indian Railways subject to traffic justification, operational feasibility, resource availability, etc,” the minister added.
Vaishnaw was addressing questions from Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Omprakash Bhupalsinh, also known as Pavan Rajenimbalkar, who inquired about the number of Vande Bharat Express trains and their routes in Maharashtra.
Bharat Gaurav Trains Policy
While answering the question about the number of new trains planned for the current financial year, especially those aimed at connecting Maharashtra’s tourist destinations with other states. Vaishnaw explained that the Indian Railways issued the ‘Bharat Gaurav Trains’ policy in November 2021 to highlight India’s cultural and historical heritage through theme-based tourist circuit trains.
“Indian Railways (IR) have issued ‘Bharat Gaurav Trains’ policy in November 2021 with the objective to showcase India’s rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places through Bharat Gaurav Trains. These are theme-based tourist circuits trains,” Vaishnaw said.
“Under the policy, Railways does not propose routes or circuits. Instead, service providers have full flexibility to decide the themes/itineraries for operation of Bharat Gaurav tourist circuit trains which may include tourist circuits of any part of India, including the State of Maharashtra based on market demand, commercial viability etc,” he further said.
Vande Bharat Express trains production capacity
The question on the coach factories in the country and their production capacity for Vande Bharat Express trains was also raised in the Parliament, on which Vaishnaw said that Vande Bharat coaches are currently manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu; Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala, Punjab; and Modern Coach Factory (MCF) in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh. Production at the Marathwada Coach Factory in Latur is also underway.
‘Capacity to produce about 7,500 coaches annually’
The minister mentioned that the Indian Railways’ coach factories have the capacity to produce about 7,500 coaches annually, including types such as Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB), Vande Bharat, Electric Multiple Unit (EMU), and Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU). The mix of coach types produced each year is adjusted based on traffic needs.
“IR coach factories have the capability to manufacture about 7,500 coaches per annum including Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB), Vande Bharat, Electric Multiple Unit (EMU), Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) etc. Yearly coach product-mix is decided as per traffic requirement,” Vaishnaw said.
“Work amounting to Rs 3,595.31 crore has been sanctioned/proposed to augment the production capacity of LHB and Vande Bharat coaches in the production units,” Vaishnaw added.
(With PTI inputs)