'Coming Soon...Early 2024': Railway Minister Shares Concept Look of Vande Bharat's Sleeper Version

Wider and comfortable berths, brighter interior and state-of-the-art design and technology will be some features of the sleeper version of the Vande Bharat Express which is likely to hit the tracks next year.

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday shared images of the concept train on X, formerly Twitter.

“Concept train – Vande Bharat (sleeper version) Coming soon… early 2024,” he wrote while sharing images.

Earlier, News18, citing officials, reported said the design and interiors of the sleeper version of the Vande Bharat Express are almost done and the Railways Ministry is giving some final touches to the 16-coach train. The deadline of finishing the work on the new trains is March 2024.

“The basic designs are finalised and we are working on details. We are expecting that the train will be rolled out around the New Year,” an official said, seeking anonymity.

Comfort & Class: What the Vande Bharat Sleeper Version Will Offer to Passengers

The train will have wider berths and an overall brighter interior than the current sleeper coaches. It will also offer better comfort and class to the passengers. Keeping in mind the needs of the passengers, the Railways will offer upgraded and spacious toilets and will provide a dedicated charging port for each passenger.

The Integral Coach Factory (ICF), which is producing the Vande Bharat and its variants, is working on a 16-coach initial design. The fully AC train will have 11 three-tier coaches, four two-tier coaches, and one first-class coach.

When compared to the usual sleeper trains, even Rajdhani and Tejas, the Vande Bharat is going to have better and enhanced features. However, apart from the fact that it will have sleeping arrangements, the sleeper and chair-car version of the Vande Bharat train are going to be similar. The sleeper version is also being designed to run at a speed of 160 km per hour and will have a dedicated pantry in each coach.

“The state of art features of the Vande Bharat trains will be there in the sleeper version also. The new trains will have on-board infotainment, a public announcement system and a facility for passengers to speak to the loco pilot in case of emergency,” officials said.

Since its launch in 2019, the Vande Bharat trains have been a hit with passengers. So far, 34 Vande Bharat trains are operational across the country. Last month, the ministry launched nine new trains in one go.