After the sustained final design of much awaited sleeper version of the semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express train is all set to be put in service by February next year.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said that the basic design of the Vande Bharat Sleeper trains has been approved and the manufacturing of the train sets have already started.
He said this while speaking with the media here. Vaishnaw said that the prototype of the new almost approved sleeper version of Vande Bharat train is all set to be put on track test in December.
After track test, India's first sleeper version of Vande Bharat train, would be rolled out in February, he said.
He further said that the prototype of new design would be first put on test on track in December this year and the final rake of sleeper version of Vande Bharat train will be rolled out in February next year.
He said that the Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory and the Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) factory based in Bengaluru will be manufacturing the new sleeper verion of the Vande Bharat Express trains.
The Minister also explained that many elements that the Railways learnt and understood in Vande Bharat have been implemented in the sleeper version.
He also said that major structural design changes were also made in the sleeper version of the train.
The Minister further asserted that the coach composition of the new Vande Bharat Express sleeper trains will be either 22 or 24 coach configuration.
The Vande Bharat sleeper trains will be a significant addition to the Indian Railways fleet, as they will allow passengers to travel long distances on these high-speed trains overnight.
Now Vande Bharat trains to get ready for next trip after cleaning in 14 mins
The Vande Bharat Express trains will be cleaned after its trip and made ready for its next journey within 14 minutes.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will launch the initiative on October 1 which has been named '14 minute miracle'.
An official said the initiative will be launched at 29 spots on Sunday, adding the Railway Minister himself being present at Delhi Cantt station.
The initiative will also be launched at the stations of Chennai, Puri and Shirdi among others.
Currently, in Japan, the bullet trains are cleaned and made ready for the next journey in just 7 minutes for the next trip and it's called "7-minute miracle".
An official said that currently, it takes around three to four hours to clean a train, while in the case of Vande Bharat Express it takes around 45 minutes to be cleaned and ready for the next trip.
Officials said each coach of the Vande Bharat train there will have four cleaning staff.
The cleaning will be done manually and they have been trained for this.
The Railway Ministry had earlier announced that it was going to implement the "14 minutes miracle" scheme as a part of the 'Swachhata Hi Seva' campaign.
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