The success of Vande Bharat Express, previously known as Train 18, plying between Delhi and Varanasi has prompted the Indian railways to start trial runs of these semi high-speed trains between Mumbai to Pune, Nashik and Vadodara.
The travelling time between New Delhi and Varanasi has been reduced by 40 percent by these semi high-speed trains.
Railway Board Rajesh Agrawal said that he wanted to check whether the same success can be replicated for Mumbai to Pune or Mumbai to Nashik or Mumbai to Vadodara.
"We are going to start trial runs from the next week on the Vande-Bharat pattern. One AC-EMU rake and one non-AC MEMU rake will be given to the Central and Western Railways. If the trial goes as per plan, we can reduce the travel time between Mumbai to Pune and Nashik to within two hours," Agrawal, an ex-officio Secretary to the Government of India, said.
Agarwal stated that the biggest challenge would be to reduce traffic congestion or infrastructure upgrade including the tracks.
"By the end of March 2020, the railways has planned to run 12 AC locals in Mumbai, six each on the Central and Western suburban lines.", he said.
The Integral Coach factory, Vande Bharat Express, manufacturer, is also working on creating new sleeper class coaches along with the state of the art facility already available in this train.
