Ministry of Railways
Amid High-occupancy & Popularity of Vande Bharat Chair Car Services, Centre seeks State Support in its Expansion
Indian Railways Takes Proactive Steps for Common Man: Affordable, Comfortable Vande Bharat Travel Boosting Convenience for Middle Class Passengers
Equipped with Semi-Permanent Couplers, Anti-Climbing Features and AI-Enabled Systems, Vande Bharat Trains Significantly Enhance Passenger Safety Across the Country: Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw
Posted On: 18 MAR 2026 6:29PM by PIB Delhi
Indian Railways (IR) is focussed on providing affordable, good quality services to all sections of society. With a view to improve travel experience of the passengers, Indian Railways have introduced indigenously designed and manufactured Vande Bharat (Sleeper & Chair Car) Express services with modern coaches, advanced safety features and passenger amenities.
Vande Bharat services [Chair Car]:
Indian Railways, with a view to improve travel experience of the passengers, have introduced indigenously designed and manufactured Vande Bharat trains with modern coaches, advanced safety features and passenger amenities. These Vande Bharat Chair Car Trains have following features:
-
Jerk Free Semi-Permanent couplers.
-
Fitted with KAVACH.
-
Centrally controlled Automatic Plug Doors and Fully Sealed wider gangways.
-
Emergency Alarm Push buttons and Talk Back Units on all Coaches.
-
Improved fire safety – Aerosol based fire detection and suppression system in electrical cabinets and lavatories.
-
Higher acceleration with design/operating speed of 180/160 KMPH.
-
Driver-Guard communication with voice recording facility & Crash hardened memory.
-
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.
-
Better Ride Comfort.
-
CCTVs in all Coaches.
-
For Divyangjan passengers special lavatory in the driving coaches on each end.
-
Coach condition monitoring System (CCMS) display with remote monitoring
Major safety features that we have introduced in the #VandeBharat trains are anti-climbing, fencing on both sides of the track, KAVACH and the fitting of the high resolution cameras: Hon’ble MR Shri @AshwiniVaishnaw pic.twitter.com/ksW7KC3IbQ
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) March 18, 2026
As on 12.03.2026, the following 162 Vande Bharat train services (Chair Car) are 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]:
For long distance travel the Sleeper variant of Vande Bharat Express has been indigenously designed and developed. Two such trains have already been m anufactured. After extensive trials, these trains have been introduced on Indian Railways. The First Vande Bharat Sleeper service viz. 27575/27576 Howrah- Kamakhya Vande Bharat Sleeper Express has commenced regular operation w.e.f. 22.01.2026.
The process of development of new rolling stocks like Vande Sleeper necessitates a holistic approach, combining technological innovation, strategic planning and manufacturing to ensure a safe, reliable and comfortable travel. This involves development of prototype, extensive testing and trials followed by series production. To improve travel experience of the passengers and 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.
-
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.
As on 12.03.2026, the following 02 Vande Bharat train services (Sleeper Car) are being operated on the Indian Railways network:
|
SN |
Train No. and Name |
|
1 |
27575/27576 Howrah – Kamakhya Vande Bharat Sleeper Express |
Besides, introduction of new train services, including Vande Bharat services and its variants, is an on-going process, which depends on various factors which include-
● 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.
● Occupancy and the traffic requirement of the section.
This information was provided by the Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a reply to questions in Lok Sabha today.
*****
Dharmendra Tewari/ Dr. Nayan Solanki/ Ritu Raj
(Release ID: 2242000) Visitor Counter : 117
