Now Reading: Bengaluru, Mumbai Vande Bharat sleeper service stuck for a year
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Bengaluru, Mumbai Vande Bharat sleeper service stuck for a year
A year after its announcement, the Bengaluru, Mumbai Vande Bharat sleeper service has not begun operations. The train is designed as a 16-coach rake with 11 three-tier AC, four two-tier AC and…
A year after its announcement, the Bengaluru, Mumbai Vande Bharat sleeper service has not begun operations. The train is designed as a 16-coach rake with 11 three-tier AC, four two-tier AC and one first AC coach. The estimated 3AC fare is around Rs 3,000, including meals.
No launch date has been set. Indian Railways is yet to finalise the rake's production timeline. The announcement was made in September 2025, but the project remains in the planning stage, marking a significant delay in one of the country's most anticipated rail services.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The Bengaluru, Mumbai route is one of India's busiest air corridors, with over 50 daily flights. Rail connectivity on this 575 km sector has long been a bottleneck: current Shatabdi and Rajdhani services take over 13 hours, while the flight time is under two hours. Sleeper Vande Bharat trains, a first for Indian Railways, are intended to bridge that gap by offering a premium overnight alternative. The project's delay follows a broader pattern: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw initially announced the train in March 2025 but cited challenges in finalising the rolling stock design. The Integral Coach Factory, which builds Vande Bharat trainsets, has to reconfigure production lines to make sleeper berths instead of the current chair-car configurations. If the train is eventually launched, it could pull 20, 30 percent of business-class air travellers, depending on fare and timing.
Source: deccanherald.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
