India's railway sector achieved a significant milestone as it unravelled the country's first Vande Metro train to transform the intra-city transportation system, at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai after bringing in several superfast Vande Bharat trains.
On April 30, the Vande Metro was unveiled as a shorter-distance version of the Vande Bharat Express. This metro will provide service to urban commuters while covering distances of up to 250 km. Commuters can travel within the city along routes spanning 100 km to 250 km distance with the Vande Metro trains.
The Vande Bharat Express variant- a sleeper train- is in development and will span routes exceeding 1,000 km.
Vande Metro train trials are scheduled to begin in July this year, followed by subsequent testing of the sleeper variant. The Railway Ministry rolled out the Vande Metro trains to connect 124 cities nationwide.
As per the initial routes, Chennai-Tirupati, Bhubaneswar-Balasore, Agra-Mathura, Delhi-Rewari, and Lucknow-Kanpur will be covered by the Vande Metro. The route from Chennai to Arakkonam has yet to be finalised, and this will extend connectivity across Tamil Nadu.
"We have set a target to roll them out this year. Its testing will start in another couple of months. Besides having automatic doors and a high comfort quotient, it will have many features not currently available on currently running metro trains," news agency PTI quoted a senior official closely associated with the project.
The Vande Metro trains will have spacious automatic doors and side seats. As per the coach composition, four coaches will constitute one unit, and at least 12 coaches will make one Vande Metro. Railways sources informed PTI that a minimum of 12 Vande Metro coaches will initially be introduced. Further capacity would be enhanced depending on the demand on the route, which would increase to 16 coaches per train.
(With PTI inputs)
