Vande Bharat Express Average Speed Down From 84 Kmph To 76 Kmph In 3 Years:
Slow Vande Bharat Trains! What causes the slowdown? RTI Explanation in response!
"It is very challenging to maintain the maximum speed of 75 kmph for all trains during monsoons," says a railway official.The average speed of Vande Bharat trains in 2020-21 was 84.48 kmph. It has come down to 76.25 kmph in 2023-24. This was stated in the Railway Ministry's reply to a query raised under the Right to Information Act.
Not only Vande Bharat trains, but many other trains have also slowed down. Railways also said that this reduction in speed is due to major infrastructure works going on. Apart from this, geographical reasons or extreme weather conditions are also said to be responsible for speed restrictions and some Vande Bharat trains have started running in difficult terrains.
Regarding the Vande Bharat train between mumbai and Goa, a Central Railway Zonal official said, "Most of the Konkan Railway section is hilly. Trains run through mountain ranges. It is a difficult route. If you increase the speed there, you will have to compromise on safety.""It is very challenging to maintain the maximum speed of 75 kmph for all trains during monsoons," he says.
Chandrasekhar Kaur, an RTI applicant from Madhya Pradesh, said, "According to the data obtained through RTI, the average speed of Vande Bharat trains has decreased rapidly from 84.48 kmph in 2020-21 to 81.38 kmph in 2022-23. It has further reduced to 76.25 kmph in 2023-24. " he points out.Vande Bharat train service launched on february 15, 2019 was operated as a semi-high speed train. That means it can run at a maximum speed of 160 kmph. But, except on the Delhi-Agra route, it was not possible to go above 130 kmph at other places.
"A few routes were developed in 2016 to run India's first semi-high-speed train Khadiman Express between delhi and agra at 160 kmph. Vande Bharat runs at 160 kmph only on those routes. In rest, its top speed is 130 kmph or less," said another railway official. The official said that the Railways is upgrading the tracks to increase the speed of Vande Bharat trains and once these works are completed, the trains will run at a speed of 250 kmph.
Vande Bharat train speed is worse than the overall average speed on Dehradun-Anand vihar (63.42 kmph), Patna-Ranchi (62.9 kmph) and Coimbatore-Bangalore Cantt (58.11 kmph) routes. "Vande Bharat Express trains are operating in a total of 284 districts across the country. A total of 102 Vande Bharat trains are providing services on 100 routes of the railway network. This number will increase in the future," a railway official said.
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