Vande Bharat Express trains to get electric engine, Indian Railways to make major changes in network

The much-awaited Vande Bharat express train has completed its trials and is set to hit the tracks soon.

However, a recent development reveals that the Indian Railways will have to make some major changes in its entire network as the Vande Bharat express train will be converted from diesel to an electric engine.

This system has been implemented in many countries where high-speed passenger trains run.

These countries include China, Japan, France, and South Africa. If the Railways plan to run Vande Bharat trains in its entire network, then major changes will have to be made in the whole network and more and more power will also be needed.

The Vande Bharat train consumes double the electricity as the normal electric trains.

The existing overhead lines may find it difficult to meet the future demand for high-speed trains running simultaneously.

Hence it has been decided to upgrade the overhead wires. Recently, the Railways floated a tender for a 1650 km track between Delhi and Mughalsarai for Rs 1,140 crore.

The Railways have to bring 247 broad gauge networks completely to the electricity network by 2023. 

In this direction, it has been successful on a 52,247 km route till April this year, out of the 65,414 km network.

The 16-coach Shatabdi train has a locomotive at one end which provides about 6,000 horsepower while the Vande Bharat train has eight motorized coaches which provide about 12,000 horsepower to the train. 

That is why working on the network for the Vande Bharat train is also a big challenge.

The new high-speed Vande Bharat trains come with better facilities and enhanced services like better speed, Wi-Fi-enabled 32-inch LCD TVs, along with Catalytic UltraViolet Air Purification System.