NEW DELHI — India is progressing on the path of ensuring massive infrastructure building as well as construction on a more regular level. As part of the same, both Railways as well as Airways have been given priority with numerous schemes in place to boost these sectors.

While the UDAN scheme has been a large success aiding those who could only dream of flying in an airplane, giving a solid boost to the railways sector has been a bit more difficult given that a humongous number of Indians regularly use it and for long distances as well.

The average annual footfall exceeds the population of almost 95% of the countries, which makes it a difficult task to efficiently operationalize and monetize the railway network further.

Commissioned by the Indian Railways as India’s first semi high-speed inter-city EMU, the Vande Bharat Express was initially operated only on two routes. It was designed and manufactured in accordance with the Make in India initiative over the span of 18 months.

Though a first-of-its-kind experience for India, the original price of every unit is estimated to be 40% cheaper than a similar unit imported from Europe, which is a great testimonial for the Indian talent for innovation.

Initially flagged off from the New Delhi railway station, it is India’s fastest engine-less train set designed to attain a maximum operational speed of 160 km/hr. Giving a peek into the future of rail travel in India, the train has regenerative braking system that saves up to 30% of electrical energy.

All coaches are equipped with automatic doors, GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system, on-board hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes and extremely comfortable seating. In fact, even the toilets have been designed to aid in reducing carbon footprint and are bio-vacuum in nature.

Largely unheard of, every coach has a dedicated pantry facility so as to cater to different needs of passengers and help staff serve hot meals at a quick pace. The insulation is meant to keep heat and noise to extremely low levels for additional passenger comfort.

The aforementioned aims to provide a completely new travel experience to passengers, with a total seating capacity of 1,128 in 16 air-conditioned coaches.

This seems to be yet another project that is aimed at improving public transport services within India, and pushing the sector closer to international standards.

In what has become a norm for the world, the distributed the traction power system gives these trains higher acceleration compared to the locomotive trains that take a much longer time to reach top speed or to come to a halt.

Therefore, with shorter time sets to accelerate or decelerate, a larger number of trips can be made.

In a clear testament to the rapid speed at which India has gone about the infrastructural arena, the Independence Day speech of 2021 goes a long way.

Announcing that 75 Vande Bharat trains shall connect every corner of the country within 75 weeks of the 75th Independence Day i.e. setting the deadline to July 2023, the government has instructed that the production plan may be advanced to ensure a prototype rollout by March 2023.

Additionally, it is the first time that such a massive boost has been given to real connectivity within the Northeast region underlying the significance attached to the sensitive area.

While this target of 75 was already a pleasant surprise for the common Indian, the union budget-2022 speech that was presented last month announced that an additional 400 Vande Bharat trains would be manufactured in the next 3 years.

This announcement signals the intent of the government to ensure that these self-propelled trains are the new normal for the large Indian rail network.

It is said that the Vande Bharat Express is looked at as a kind of trial run and precursor to the Bullet Train project that is scheduled to reach India latest by the year 2027. Focusing on the vision of producing indigenous technology at cheaper costs, Make in India has been given a new fillip through the project.

While the footfall that Indian railways would have to cater to is on a scale beyond comprehension for international railway networks, India has exceeded expectations in the past delivering better technology at a lower cost.

The emphasis has shifted to ensuring safety, speed and service for the advent of new Indian railways. India is today in the process of rewriting a new history as far as connectivity to remote parts of the country is concerned.

A new and redefined Indian Railways would not only serve trade and infrastructural needs, but also ensure significant connectivity between hearts of the people. — Agencies