- Category
- High-Speed & Trainset Technology
- Used for
- Fast intercity passenger services with rapid acceleration and modern onboard systems
- Benefits
- Faster acceleration and deceleration, regenerative braking, modern passenger facilities, automatic doors, improved energy efficiency and reduced need for a separate locomotive.
- Introduced
- 2019
Vande Bharat Express represents a major technological shift in Indian Railways passenger operations. Unlike a conventional passenger train hauled entirely by a separate locomotive, Vande Bharat is a self-propelled electric trainset with traction equipment distributed across the train.
Distributed traction provides improved acceleration and deceleration, helping reduce journey times on routes where track conditions and operational restrictions allow the train to use its performance effectively.
The train incorporates regenerative braking, which allows part of the energy generated during braking to be returned to the electrical system. This improves energy efficiency compared with conventional braking arrangements that dissipate much of this energy.
Vande Bharat also introduced or expanded the use of modern passenger technologies including centrally controlled automatic doors, GPS-based passenger information, CCTV systems, sealed gangways and onboard monitoring systems.
The first Vande Bharat service was inaugurated on the New Delhi–Kanpur–Prayagraj–Varanasi corridor on 15 February 2019, beginning a new generation of indigenous trainset operations on Indian Railways.