Lok Sabha Question No. 540 (STARRED), answered on 2026-04-01
Subject: Expenditure on Vande Bharat Trains
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Malaiyarasan D

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## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 540 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026

## EXPENDITURE ON VANDE BHARAT TRAINS

- *540. SHRI MALAIYARASAN D:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the total expenditure incurred by the Government on the manufacturing and introduction of Vande Bharat trains so far, including funds allocated to the Integral Coach Factory and other production units;
- (b)  whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  assessment  regarding passenger  demand,  affordability  of  fares  and  overall  performance  of these trains since their introduction; and
- (c)  the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  expand  the  network  of Vande  Bharat  Express  trains  and  ensure  their  connectivity  to  smaller cities and underserved regions under the Indian Railways?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF  STARRED QUESTION NO.540 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026 IN LOK SABHA

(a) to (c) Indian Railways (IR) is focussed towards providing affordable and good  quality  service  to  all  sections  of  society.  Taking  this  initiative forward,  IR  has  indigenously  designed  and  developed  the  Chair  Car  and Sleeper version of Semi High-speed Vande Bharat Trainsets for enhanced passenger mobility and better travel experience.

To  set  new  benchmarks  in  terms  of  safe  and  comfortable  journey,  these train sets have been provided with modern coaches having advanced safety features and passenger amenities like:

-  Jerk-Free Semi permanent couplers and Anti Climbers
-  Fitted with KAVACH.
-  Higher acceleration with design/operating speed of 180/160 KMPH.
-  Crashworthy Design of Car body complying with EN standards.
-  Fire  barrier  doors  at  the  end  of  each  coach  for  compliance  of  fire safety standards.
-  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 system for deactivating 99 % harmful bacteria from conditioned air to improve the hygiene standards inside the passenger area.
-  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, 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 in sleeper class.

The Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) for capital investment in Railways has increased substantially from ₹ 29,055 crore in 2013-14 to ₹ 2.78 lakh crore in  2026-27.  This  enhanced  budgetary  support  has  enabled  significant investments in network expansion, safety improvements, passenger amenities,  road  safety  works,  technology  upgradation  and  rolling  stock augmentation including Vande Bharat manufacturing.

Indian  Railways  (IR)  caters  to  various  segments  of  the  travelling  public and, accordingly, operates different types of train services like Suburban/Non-suburban ordinary train services, Mail/Express, Amrit Bharat, Vande  Bharat,  Vande  Bharat  Sleeper,  Namo  Bharat  Rapid  Rail,  Tejas, Humsafar, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and Garib Rath services etc.

While  deciding  the  fare  structure  of  various  types  of  passenger  services due  consideration  is  given  to  aspects  like  the  cost  of  service,  value  of service,  type  of  services/facilities  offered,  affordability,  competition  from other competing modes and socio-economic considerations etc. Accordingly, Vande Bharat trains operate as a distinct passenger service segment having specific fare structure.

Vande  Bharat  Services  have  been  widely  accepted  across  the  country. During  2024-25,  the  average  occupancy  of  VB  trains  was  approximately 100%.

Vande Bharat services (Chair Car):

As of now, 81 pairs of Vande Bharat train services (Chair Car) are presently being operated on the Indian Railways network, as under:-

|   SN | Train No. and Name                                                       |
|------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | 22435/22436 New Delhi - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express                    |
|    2 | 22439/22440 Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express |
|    3 | 20901/20902 Gandhinagar Capital - Mumbai Central Vande Bharat Express    |
|    4 | 22447/22448 Amb Andura - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express                  |

|   5 | 20607/20608 Mysuru - MGR Chennai Central Vande Bharat Express                      |
|-----|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   6 | 20825/20826 Nagpur - Bilaspur Vande Bharat Express                                 |
|   7 | 22301/22302 New Jalpaiguri - Howrah Vande Bharat Express                           |
|   8 | 20833/20834 Secunderabad - Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express                      |
|   9 | 22223/22224 Sainagar Shirdi - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express |
|  10 | 22225/22226 Solapur - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express         |
|  11 | 20171/20172 Nizamuddin - Rani Kamlapati Vande Bharat Express                       |
|  12 | 20701/20702 Tirupati - Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express                           |
|  13 | 20643/20644 Coimbatore - Chennai Vande Bharat Express                              |
|  14 | 20977/20978 Chandigarh - Ajmer Vande Bharat Express                                |
|  15 | 20633/20634 Thiruvananthapuram- Kasargod Vande Bharat Express                      |
|  16 | 22895/22896 Puri - Howrah Vande Bharat Express                                     |
|  17 | 22457/22458 Dehradun - Anand Vihar Vande Bharat Express                            |
|  18 | 22227/22228 Guwahati - New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express                         |
|  19 | 20911/20912 Nagpur - Indore Vande Bharat Express                                   |
|  20 | 22229/22230 Madgaon - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express         |
|  21 | 22349/22350 Ranchi - Patna Vande Bharat Express                                    |
|  22 | 20661/20662 Dharwar - Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express                               |
|  23 | 20173/20174 Rewa - Rani Kamlapati Vande Bharat Express                             |
|  24 | 22549/22550 Gorakhpur - Prayagraj Vande Bharat Express                             |
|  25 | 12461/12462 Sabarmati - Jodhpur Vande Bharat Express                               |
|  26 | 22925/22926 Okha - Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express                                  |

|   27 | 20665/20666 Tirunelveli - Chennai Egmore Vande Bharat Express             |
|------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   28 | 20677/20678 Narsapur - Chennai Vande Bharat Express                       |
|   29 | 20703/20704 Yesvantpur - Kacheguda Vande Bharat Express                   |
|   30 | 20631/20632 Thiruvananthapuram- Mangaluru Vande Bharat Express            |
|   31 | 26963/26964 Udaipur - Asarva Vande Bharat Express                         |
|   32 | 22347/22348 Patna - Howrah Vande Bharat Express                           |
|   33 | 20835/20836 Puri - Rourkela Vande Bharat Express                          |
|   34 | 20897/20898 Ranchi - Howrah Vande Bharat Express                          |
|   35 | 22415/22416 New Delhi - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express                     |
|   36 | 20641/20642 Coimbatore - Bengaluru Cant Vande Bharat Express              |
|   37 | 20645/20646 Mangaluru - Madgaon Vande Bharat Express                      |
|   38 | 20705/20706 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) - Nanded Vande Bharat Express |
|   39 | 22477/22478 Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express  |
|   40 | 22425/22426 Anand Vihar - Ayodhya Cantt. Vande Bharat Express             |
|   41 | 22487/22488 Amritsar - Delhi Vande Bharat Express                         |
|   42 | 22962/22961 Mumbai Central - Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express               |
|   43 | 20707/20708 Visakhapatnam - Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express             |
|   44 | 20663/20664 Chennai - Mysuru Vande Bharat Express                         |
|   45 | 22233/22234 Patna - New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express                   |
|   46 | 22470/22469 Khajuraho - Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express                   |
|   47 | 22231/22232 Bengaluru - Kalburagi Vande Bharat Express                    |
|   48 | 20841/20842 Visakhapatnam - Bhubaneswar Vande Bharat Express              |
|   49 | 22345/22346 Gomti Nagar - Patna Vande Bharat Express                      |

|   50 | 20887/20888 Varanasi - Ranchi Vande Bharat Express                       |
|------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   51 | 22545/22546 Dehradun - Lucknow Jn Vande Bharat Express                   |
|   52 | 22490/22489 Varanasi - Meerut City Vande Bharat Express                  |
|   53 | 20627/20628 Nagercoil - Chennai Egmore Vande Bharat Express              |
|   54 | 20671/20672 Bengaluru Cantt - Madurai Vande Bharat Express               |
|   55 | 22500/22499 Deoghar - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express                      |
|   56 | 22309/22310 Jamalpur - Howrah Vande Bharat Express                       |
|   57 | 20871/20872 Rourkela - Howrah Vande Bharat Express                       |
|   58 | 20893/20894 Patna - Tatanagar Vande Bharat Express                       |
|   59 | 20892/20891 Tatanagar - Brahmapur Vande Bharat Express                   |
|   60 | 22303/22304 Gaya - Howrah Vande Bharat Express                           |
|   61 | 20669/20670 Pune - Hubballi Vande Bharat Express                         |
|   62 | 20673/20674 Pune - Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj (T) Vande Bharat Express    |
|   63 | 20101/20102 Secunderabad - Nagpur Vande Bharat Express                   |
|   64 | 20829/20830 Visakhapatnam - Durg Vande Bharat Express                    |
|   65 | 21893/21894 Patna - Tatanagar Vande Bharat Express                       |
|   66 | 21895/21896 Patna - Tatanagar Vande Bharat Express                       |
|   67 | 20176/20175 Banaras - Agra Cantt. Vande Bharat Express                   |
|   68 | 26901/26902 Veraval - Sabarmati Vande Bharat Express                     |
|   69 | 26401/26402 Srinagar - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express |
|   70 | 26403/26404 Srinagar -Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express  |
|   71 | 26502/26501 Patliputra - Gorakhpur Vande Bharat Express                  |

|   72 | 26751/26752 KSR Bengaluru - Belagavi Vande Bharat Express                |
|------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   73 | 26406/26405 Amritsar - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Vande Bharat Express |
|   74 | 26101/26102 Pune - Ajni Vande Bharat Express                             |
|   75 | 26302/26301 Jogbani - Danapur Vande Bharat Express                       |
|   76 | 26481/26482 Delhi Cantt - Jodhpur Vande Bharat Express                   |
|   77 | 26471/26472 Delhi Cantt - Bikaner Vande Bharat Express                   |
|   78 | 26462/26461 Delhi - Firozpur Cantt. Vande Bharat Express                 |
|   79 | 26651/26652 Ernakulam - KSR Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express               |
|   80 | 26506/26505 Khajuraho - Banaras Vande Bharat Express                     |
|   81 | 26504/26503 Saharanpur - Gomtinagar Vande Bharat Express                 |

Vande Bharat services (Sleeper):

The  Sleeper  variant  of  Vande  Bharat  trains  has  also  been  developed  for long distance travel. As on 25.03.2026, following 01 pair of Vande Bharat Sleeper  Express  is  being  operated  on  the  Indian  Railways  network,  as under:

|   SN | Train No. and Name                                         |
|------|------------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | 27575/27576 Howrah - Kamakhya Vande Bharat Sleeper Express |

Besides,  introduction  of  train  services,  including  Vande  Bharat  and  its variants,  on  any  route/section,  is  an  on-going  process  and depends  on various factors including:

- 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.

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