At present, 164 Vande Bharat train services having Chair Cars  are operational on the Indian Railways network. Besides, introduction of new train services, including Vande Bharat Express services and its variants, is an ongoing process on Indian Railways  which depends on various factors which include:

• Capacity of that section

• Availability of path

• Availability of required rolling stock

• Availability of matching infrastructure for rolling stock

• Maintenance requirement of railway tracks and other assets

With a view to contain the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, Indian Railways (IR) had discontinued the operation of all regular passenger carrying trains with effect from 23rd March, 2020 and only special train services were being operated. Indian Railways also undertook rationalisation of time-table, including rationalisation of train services and stoppages, in a scientific manner with the assistance of IIT-Bombay. The exercise has been undertaken inter alia to provide for better passenger safety by creating maintenance corridor blocks, speeding up of train services and to improve punctuality. Since November-2021, Express train services are being operated as per rationalized time table and regular numbers.

The daily average number of train services on the Indian Railways network is 11,740 (November 2025)  as against 11,283 services operating prior to Covid-19. The daily average number of Mail/Express services on the Indian Railways network is 2,238 (November  2025) as against 1,768 services operating prior to Covid-19.

Vande Bharat  Sleeper Trains

To cater to long and medium distance overnight travel, the Sleeper variant of Vande Bharat train has been indigenously designed. Two such rakes have been manufactured and are under trial/commissioning.

Broad Technological advancements and safety features provided in Vande Bharat Sleeper Trains are as below.

●   Fitted with KAVACH

● Higher acceleration with design/operating speed of 180/160 KMPH

●  Crashworthy and Jerk-Free Semi permanent couplers and Anti Climbers

●  Crashworthy Design of Carbody complying with EN standards.

●   EN-45545 HL3 fire safety standards.

●   Fire barrier doors at the end of each coach

● Improved fire safety Aerosol based fire detection and suppression system in electrical cabinets and lavatories.

● Regenerative braking system for energy efficiency.

● Air conditioning units provided with indigenously developed UV-C lamp based disinfection systems.

●   Centrally controlled Automatic Plug Doors and Fully Sealed wider gangways

●    CCTVs in all coaches.

● Emergency talk-back unit for communication between Passenger and Train Manager/Loco Pilot in case of emergency.

● For Divyangjan passengers a special lavatory in the driving coaches on each end.

●  Centralized Coach Monitoring System for better condition monitoring of passenger amenities such as Air conditioning, Saloon Lighting etc.

●   Ergonomically designed ladder for ease of climbing on to upper berths.

This information was provided by the Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, in written replies to questions in Lok Sabha today.

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Dharmendra Tewari/ Dr. Nayan Solanki/ Manik Sharma