Namo Bharat Rapid Rail (also referred to as Vande Metro) is a short-distance service that operates on an inter-city rail network to connect major cities within a distance of around . The

Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala The Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala is a coach manufacturing unit of the Indian Railways in the Indian state of Punjab. It was set up in the year 1985 with an investment of ₹423 crore (US$342 million) in order to enhance production capacity ...

had rolled out the first Basic Unit (4 coaches) of the train in April 2024. This train is part of the '

Make in India is an initiative by the Government of India to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture and assemble products in India and incentivize dedicated investments into manufacturing. The policy approach was to create a conducive envi ...

' initiative by the Government of India and entered commercial service in September 2024.

History

Announcement

Following the success of the

Vande Bharat Express Vande Bharat Express is a medium to long-distance Higher-speed rail (Indian English: Semi-High Speed) Express trains in India#Superfast, Express train service. It is a Indian Railways#Ticketing and fares, reserved, air-conditioned chair car se ...

in the medium-distance segment, Namo Bharat Rapid Rail as Vande Metro was first announced by then

Minister of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructur ...

Ashwini Vaishnav in April 2023 as a short-distance version intended for regional travel.

Prototypes

Trial runs

With the trainsets getting into the final stages, trial runs for the trainsets were scheduled for July 2024. These trials were to be focused on metropolitan cities, satellite cities, and large urban centres. A successful trial run was conducted on 3 August 2024 which ran from Chennai's

Villivakkam Villivakkam is a neighbourhood of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is served by the Villivakkam railway station on the Chennai Central–Arakkonam suburban section. Villivakkam is the largest state assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu in terms of ...

railway station and terminated at

Katpadi Junction Katpadi Junction railway station (also known as Vellore Katpadi Junction railway station)(station code: KPD), is an NSG–2 category Indian railway station in Chennai railway division of Southern Railway zone. Katpadi Junction is the primary t ...

. Another trial run was conducted on 8 September 2024 which ran from

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Jn. railway station to

Bhuj Bhuj () is a city and the headquarters of Kutch district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Etymology According to legend, Kutch (Kachchh) was ruled by the Nāga chieftains in the past. Sagai, a queen of Sheshapattana, who was married to King B ...

railway station. During the trial run, the train covered the distance in five hours, one and a half hours less than then-operational trains. During the trial, the train achieved a maximum speed of .

Entry into service

The first Ahmedabad–Bhuj train service started on 16 September 2024. It consists of 12 cars, covering a distance of 359 km (223 mi). The travel time is approximately 5 hours and 40 minutes, with a maximum speed of 110 km/h (68 mph) and an average speed of 63 km/h (39 mph).

Rolling stock

The Namo Bharat Rapid Rail is a self-propelled trainset similar to the

. The self-propelled feature eliminates the need for a separate locomotive and offers faster acceleration and deceleration. Designed to replace

MEMU In Indian Railways, a MEMU is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train that serves short and medium-distance routes in India, as compared to normal EMU trains that connect urban and suburban areas. The acronym stands for Mainline Electric Multiple ...

trains, its primary aim is to reduce the inter-city travel time. With a maximum operational speed of , it surpasses the current running MEMUs. Each coach features lightweight, cushioned seats accommodating 100 seated passengers and space for 200 standing. It is fully air-conditioned and equipped with modern amenities, including sealed gangways for easy movement. It also has aluminium luggage racks, LCD displays for passenger information, automatic doors, mobile charging sockets, diffused lighting, route displays, and panoramic windows with roller blinds. Safety features include the KAVACH anti-collision system,

CCTV cameras A closed-circuit television camera is a type of surveillance camera that transmits video signals to a specific set of monitors or video recording devices, rather than broadcasting the video over public airwaves. The term "closed-circuit televisi ...

, Emergency talk-back units, fire detection systems, and modular bio-vacuum toilets. Initially, the trainsets will consist of 12 to 16 coaches depending on route demand.

Rake formation

''Abbreviations:'' DTC – Driving Trailer Coach; NDTC – Non-Driving Trailer Coach; MC – Motor Coach; MC2 – Motor Coach with electrical change-over switch; MC3 – 180° rotated MC2; TC – Trailer Coach having

Pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a Linkage (mechanical), mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a se ...

Services

Operational services

Proposed services

Notes

References

External links

{{Navboxes, list= {{Indian Railways Transportation planning Transport in India Proposed public transport in India