Government of India said that Indian Railways has successfully completed trials of the second generation Vande Bharat train that will come with enhanced passenger comfort and safety features.
Regular production of these trains will begin from October.
The Railways has set a target of rolling out 75 such trains by August 2023.
About Vande Bharat Trains
In the Union Budget for 2022-2023, the Finance Minister has proposed the development and manufacture of 400 new Vande Bharat trains in the next three years.
These trains, dubbed as Train 18 during the development phase, operate without a locomotive and are based on a propulsion system called distributed traction power technology, by which each car of the train set is powered.
The new train, which touched a speed of 180 kmph during trials, will be primarily made at Integral Coach Factory, Chennai.
The train can accelerate from 0-100 kmph in 52 seconds and reach a speed of 160 kmph in 130 seconds as compared to the earlier version, which can go from 0-100 kmph in 54.6 seconds and 160 kmph in 146 seconds.
The weight of the train is also lesser by 38 tonne.
The new Vande Bharat has made-in-India ‘photo-catalytic ultra violet air purification system’ that will filter and clean the air, deactivating 99.9% of viruses and bacteria.
The train will have higher battery back up of three hours and a better flood level.
It will also offer wifi-enabled content on demand.
The trains will be pre-fitted with the Kavach (the indigenously-developed train collision avoidance system).
