The introduction of the Vande Bharat Express has given a solid boost to Indian Railways according to a report in a Saudi publication.
A large number of people in India still use trains even for longer distances and the average footfall exceeds the population of almost 95 per cent of the countries, according to Saudi Gazette.
The Vande Bharat Express, India's first semi high-speed inter-city EMU, was initially operated only on two routes. It was designed and manufactured in accordance with the Make in India initiative over a span of 18 months, according to the Saudi publication.
India's first semi high-speed inter-city EMU was initially flagged off from the New Delhi railway station, which covers the distance on a maximum operational speed of 160 km/hr. Vande Bharat has a regenerative braking system that saves up to 30 per cent of electrical energy. All the coaches are equipped with automatic doors, a GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system, onboard hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes and extremely comfortable seating. Even the toilets have been designed to aid in reducing carbon footprint and are bio-vacuum in nature.
Every coach has a dedicated pantry facility to give different requirements of passengers and even could supply hot food to the passengers.
Vande Bharat has a total seating capacity of 1,128 in 16 air-conditioned coaches, according to the Saudi publication.
The publication further said that under the 'Make in India' scheme, the original price of every unit is estimated to be 40 per cent cheaper than a similar unit that would be imported from Europe. It further stated that this is a great testimonial for the Indian talent for innovation.
According to Saudi Publication, Vande Bharat seems to be another project in transport service to push India's standard to the international one.
The Indian government aims to introduce 75 Vande Bharat all over the world and also within 75 weeks of the 75th Independence Day i.e. setting the deadline to July 2023.
The publication pointed out the Union Budget 2022 where it was announced that an additional 400 Vande Bharat trains would be manufactured in the next 3 years.
Vande Bharat is a kind of trial run and precursor to the Bullet Train project that is scheduled to reach India latest by the year 2027. The project is focusing on the vision of producing cheaper cost technologies and the 'Make in India' scheme has been given a new fillip through this project.
The publication lauded India's Vande Bharat express and reported that India is creating a new history as far as connectivity to remote parts of the country is concerned.
( With inputs from ANI )
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