Vande Bharat Trains’ Average Speed Declines Due to Infrastructure Upgrades and Challenging Terrain

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 8th June. The average speed of Vande Bharat trains has decreased from 84.48 kmph in 2020-21 to 76.25 kmph in 2023-24, according to the railway ministry’s response to a Right to Information (RTI) query. This decline is attributed to ongoing infrastructure work and challenging geographical conditions, officials explained.

“Not only Vande Bharat trains but many others are maintaining cautionary speeds in areas where substantial infrastructural work is underway,” a railway official said. “Additionally, some Vande Bharat trains operate in difficult terrain areas with speed restrictions due to geographical reasons or extreme weather conditions.”

Highlighting the Vande Bharat train between Mumbai CSMT and Madgaon, an official from the Central Railway Zone noted, “Most of the Konkan railway area is a ‘ghat’ section where trains pass through low-height mountain ranges. It is a difficult terrain where increasing speed could compromise safety. During the monsoon season, we have to limit the maximum speed for all trains to 75 kmph.”

Chandra Shekhar Gaur, the RTI applicant from Madhya Pradesh, shared that the data reveals a decrease in the average speed of Vande Bharat trains from 84.48 kmph in 2020-21 to 81.38 kmph in 2022-23, further dropping to 76.25 kmph in 2023-24.

Launched on February 15, 2019, the Vande Bharat is a semi-high-speed train capable of running at a maximum speed of 160 kmph. However, it generally does not exceed 130 kmph except on the Delhi-Agra route due to unsuitable track conditions. A railway official noted that only specific segments of tracks between Delhi and Agra, developed in 2016 for India’s first semi-high-speed train Gatiman Express, allow the Vande Bharat to run at 160 kmph.

The railways are in the process of upgrading tracks to meet the speed requirements of the Vande Bharat trains. “Once these upgrades are complete, we will have trains capable of speeds up to 250 kmph,” the official added.

Some routes where the Vande Bharat’s speed is below its overall average include Dehradun-Anand Vihar (63.42 kmph), Patna-Ranchi (62.9 kmph), and Coimbatore-Bangalore Cantt (58.11 kmph). An expert involved in track construction criticized the railways for not replacing tracks on any route to enable the train to run at its maximum speed of 160 kmph, even after five years since the first Vande Bharat was launched.

Despite these challenges, the railway ministry maintains that Vande Bharat trains are highly popular, with over 2.15 crore passengers traveling on them by March 31. The trains feature advanced amenities such as Kavach protection, faster acceleration, semi-high-speed operation, fully sealed gangways, automatic plug doors, reclining ergonomic seats, and more. “A total of 284 districts across the country are now connected by the Vande Bharat Express, and this number is expected to increase. Currently, 102 Vande Bharat trains are operating on 100 routes of the railway network,” a railway official said.