The Vande Bharat Express is India's snazzy high-speed train that kicked off its journey in 2019, running from Varanasi to New Delhi. Since then, we've got 136 of these trains zooming around the country, making it the fastest train here, hitting speeds of up to 160 kilometers per hour. They come packed with a bunch of cool features that regular trains don't have. Did you know how much it cost the government to make one Vande Bharat?
Building one of these trains' costs over Rs 130 crore, and it's all done at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai as part of the "Make in India" movement. But it's not just the upfront cost; keeping the train running isn’t cheap either. The Vande Bharat Express runs on electricity, and it costs about Rs2,000 to Rs2,500 for every kilometer it covers. So, for a 500-kilometer trip, the electricity bill can rack up anywhere between Rs10 lakh to Rs12 lakh. Plus, we need to cough up another Rs2 to Rs3 crore every year just to pay the staff and manage everything.
Maintenance isn't a walk in the park either. We’re looking at annual costs of about Rs 10 to Rs 12 crore for keeping everything clean, making repairs, and upgrading the tech so we can keep up those premium services—way pricier than what regular trains spend. Even with all these costs, the Vande Bharat Express is making some serious cash for the Indian government. While the exact numbers are kept under wraps, it's said that around 92% of the seats on these trains are filled up, proving that the Vande Bharat Express is doing really well and is a money maker for Indian Railways.