Vande Bharat Sleeper Coach: Passengers are liking the journey of semi high speed train Vande Bharat. Seeing its success, it was decided by the Railway Board to run the sleeper Vande Bharat on the tracks. Earlier, the first sleeper Vande Bharat was expected to be operational by March. But currently it is expected to be delayed by six months. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav recently said that the first Vande Bharat sleeper train may be ready to run on the tracks in the next six months.
Recently, the Union Railway Minister had seen the progress of construction of Vande Bharat Sleeper Coach. He had reached Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) in Bengaluru to see the progress related to construction. In the current sleeper coach, there is less space between the roof of the train and the upper berth. This causes trouble to the passenger.
Vaishnav told that the body of the new sleeper coach of Vande Bharat will be of higher height. The roof has been redesigned keeping in mind the convenience of passengers. It is expected that after six months, the trial of 10 sleeper coaches of Vande Bharat consisting of 16 coaches will be conducted. Vaishnav said, after the trial is successful, large scale manufacturing of the coach will start.
He also said that ‘Kavach’ system will be fitted in all Vande Bharat sleeper trains. The cost of manufacturing a coach at the international level is around Rs 10 crore. However, the cost of manufacturing one Vande Bharat sleeper coach in the country is Rs 8 to 9 crore.
There will be facility to travel for about 67 passengers in one coach. Vaishnav said that the features of the new sleeper train include stainless steel body, collision resistant elements, automatic outdoor and sensor based intercommunication door. Vaishnav said that the part below the stairs to board the train has been improved for easy entry of passengers.
