Ashwini Vaishnaw's big announcement: 'Vande Bharat Sleeper Coach rollout in 3 months, fare would be...'

The passenger operation of Vande Sleeper Coach is expected in three months from now, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Sunday after conducting an inspection of the sleeper coach at BEML in Bengaluru. "We expect the passenger operation of Vande Sleeper Coach in three months from now. This is a full sleeper version," Vaishnaw told reporters after the inspection.

For the first time, the minister also gave a hint of fare of the new sleeper coach. "Ye middle class ke sawari hai isliye affrodable fare rakha jayega. Rajdhani ke saath isko benchmark karke rakha jayega (This is the mode of transport for the middle class, so the fare will be kept affordable. It will be benchmarked with the Rajdhani Express)," he said while speaking to news agency ANI.  

The manufacturing of the Vande Sleeper Coach has been completed and it will come out from the BEML factory in the coming few days, the Minister said. "After the success of the Vande Bharat chair-car, the manufacturing and designing of the Vande Sleeper was something for which all of us were waiting. We all were working on the manufacturing of it. That manufacturing is complete. Vande sleeper will come out from the BEML Factory in the coming days," Vaishnaw said. 

"It was a long journey. Designing a new train is complex work. There are a lot of new features in Vande Sleeper," he said. "These projects reflect the aspirational India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said. 

Describing new features in the Vande Bharat trains, Vaishnaw said a lot of things had been taken care of in the new trains. "Four trains, Vande Chair Car, Vande Sleeper, Vande Metro and Amrit Bharat have been designed in a way to address many things, like modern technology, safety and special facilities for loco pilots and service staff." 

The minister also spoke on fare, which he said would be 'affordable'. "This is a means of transport for middle-class people, so its fare will be affordable. There are a lot of safety features on this train. Also, a lot of innovations have been made in design. A separate cabin has been made for the maintenance staff. This train can be compared with the best trains in the world."

In March last year, the Ministry of Railways said it had planned to manufacture 400 Vande Bharat trains (sleeper version) of three different technologies. The railways said that it had envisaged to manufacture Vande-Bharat sleeper trains with speed potential of 200 kmph.