Vande Metro: Know all about India's fastest and next generation intercity train

The Ministry of Railways has recently unvieled its plan to introduce "Vande Metro", a new kind of intercity trains to connect small routes having major density of people. The Ministry of Railways has directed the General Managers (GMs) of Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) and Lucknow-based Research Design and Standard Organisation (RDSO) to roll out the rakes of eight-car Vande Bharat trains at the earliest.

Here are some salient features and unknown facts about Vande Metro, you must know:

Announcement by the Government

This was announced by Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw just after the presentation of Union Budget 2023-24 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Indian parliament. "The Vande Metro, a mini version of the Vande Bharat Express trains, will be developed by the Indian Railways for people living around big cities to travel to and fro in comfort between their place of work and hometowns," Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

"For making the travelling easier for the passengers of nearby areas of a state, Vande metro trains, completely manufactured in India under the vision of PM Modi, will soon be introduced in the country," he added.

Saleint Features of Vande Metro

• Coach formation: The Vande Metro trains will be similar to Metro trains and it will have eight to twelve coaches.
• Route Distance: The Vande Metro trains will be operated between two cities having short distance around 100 kilomteres.
• Design Speed: The design speed of Vande Metro trains will be 130 kilometres per hour.
• Traction & Power Supply: The Vande Metro trains will also run by receiving traction power via 25kV overhead equipment (OHE) similar to Vande Bharat trains.
• Frequency: Vande Metro Trains will be built with the concept that the train can run at a very high frequency, i.e. four or five times a day.
• Seating/Standing: The Vande Metro trains will have only seating facility like Intercity trains being operated by the Indian Railways across various metropolitan / suburban areas. The trains will also have lots of space in the centre for the commuters to stand holding onto handholds.
• No Pantry Car: The Vande Metro trains will not have any Pantry car for food services to passengers.
• Manufacturing/Development: The Vande Metro trains will be developed by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai under "Make in India" and "Atmanirbhar Bharat" Mission.
• Other facilities/features: The Vande Metro trains will have similar facilities like Metro trains such as automatic doors, CCTV, passenger information & public address system, airconditioned coaches etc. The Vande Metro trains will also have some additional safety features.

"We are also developing Vande Metro... Around big cities, there are large habitations from where people would like to come to the big city for work or leisure, and go back to their home place. For that, we are coming up with a Vande Bharat equivalent Vande Metro. This year the design and production will be completed, and in the next financial year, a ramp-up of production of the train will be done," informed Union Railway Minister.

Deadline

The design and parametres of the Vande Metro trains are being finalised with help of RDSO. The first Vande Metro train is slotted to roll out on Indian Railways' track by December 2023. However, routes of Vande Metro trains are not yet finalised.

Souces said that Railway Ministry has already floated a tender for procurement of 8 rakes of Vande Metro trainsets with 12-car formation. First two prototype Vande Metro rakes sets to start trial run on the track before August 2023.

Routes

Back in March this year, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced that a Vande Metro train will be operated between Jammu and Srinagar once the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project (USBRL) becomes fully operational, which is expected to be by December 2023 or January 2024. This important railway link will connect the Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country through the rail network.