Vande Bharat trains production to start in Latur from next year

The production of Vande Bharat trains will start at the Rail Coach Factory in Latur by the end of the next fiscal year, in March 2024. Every week, the railway ministry aims to produce three Vande Bharat trains.

On Wednesday, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, said that one Vande Bharat train is currently produced every week at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai.

Production of Vande Bharat trains will start in the Rail Coach Factory in Latur, Maharashtra Modern Coach Factory, and Rail Coach Factory Sonipat by the end of the next fiscal year.

Apart from that, metro train production is also on the cards. The first train of this type will be ready by the end of 2023. Similarly, the first hydrogen trains in the country will also be ready by the end of this year. Hydrogen-powered trains will be introduced on narrow-gauge heritage routes of the Indian railways.

Talking about the infrastructural development in the Indian Railways, Vaishnaw told reporters that currently a 12-kilometre-long track is being laid down in the country, and they are targeting to lay down a 16-kilometre-long track daily in the country by next year. Ashwini Vaishnaw also said that 1,275 railway stations in the country are being redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat station scheme, including CSMT of Mumbai.

The Indian Railways has decided to introduce around 400 Vande Bharat trains on different routes across the country in the coming years, with 100 of them being produced at the Rail Coach Factory in Latur, Maharashtra.

"The Marathwada Rail Coach Factory is going to significantly contribute to the overall development of this aspirational region of Maharashtra by heralding a modern industrial ecosystem," a railway official said, adding that the factory had been designed with an initial capacity of manufacturing 250 MEMU/EMU/LHB/trainset-type advanced coaches per annum.