India will export Vande Bharat trains in three to four years, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Sunday. He spoke after flagging off the new Bengaluru-Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper train. "In the next three to four years, we will start exporting Vande Bharat trains from India," he said.
India will commence the export of Vande Bharat trains in three to four years. The Bengaluru-Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper train has been recently launched to enhance overnight travel comfort. It features advanced design improvements aimed at passenger convenience and aims to reduce travel time significantly. Fares for the sleeper service are competitive compared to international train services.
Bengaluru: India will begin exporting Vande Bharat trains within the next three to four years, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Sunday, expressing satisfaction with the performance of the latest generation of the indigenous train set and the improvements made over earlier versions.
Speaking after flagging off the Bengaluru-Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper train, Vaishnaw said Indian Railways was continuously upgrading the service with each new iteration.
"In the next three to four years, we will start exporting Vande Bharat trains from India," he said. The launch event was attended by Union ministers HD Kumaraswamy and Pralhad Joshi, Ministers of State V Somanna, and Shobha Karandlaje.
Vaishnaw said the sleeper version has been designed with special features for passengers using middle and upper berths. It also incorporates advanced couplers to minimise jerks during travel, enhancing passenger comfort.
Karandlaje said the service would provide an affordable alternative to air travel, particularly during festive seasons when airfare tends to surge. "College students and people engaged in small jobs can travel comfortably and enjoy good facilities," she said.
The Southwestern Railway sad in a post on X that the train will improve connectivity between Bengaluru and Mumbai through key centres including Raichur, Yadgir, Kalaburagi, Guntakal, Kurnool, Solapur and Pune, boosting regional development.
The 1,118-km journey will be covered in about 16 hours, reducing travel time by nearly eight hours, Somanna said in a post on X. The train comprises 16 fully air-conditioned coaches with 823 berths and is aimed at providing a premium overnight travel experience.
The Bengaluru-Mumbai service is India's second Vande Bharat Sleeper train. The first was introduced earlier this year between Howrah and Kamakhya.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha in March, Vaishnaw said fares for Vande Bharat sleeper trains are calculated on a per passenger-km basis. AC three-tier fares are fixed at Rs 2.40 per km, excluding GST, implying a fare of about Rs 2,400 for a 1,000-km journey. The minister had also informed Parliament that Vande Bharat sleeper services do not offer Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) tickets.
Railways has said Vande Bharat sleeper fares, ranging from Rs 2.40 to Rs 3.80 per km, are lower than comparable services in countries such as China, Japan and France. The Centre also provided passenger fare subsidies worth Rs 60,239 crore in 2024-25, amounting to an average concession of 43% for travellers, according to the minister.