Taking selfies with Vande Bharat Express trains is still a craze among the public. India’s first indigenous semi high-speed trains continue to captivate since their launch a couple of years ago.
Vande Bharat is a fine example of Atmanirbhar Bharat, and leading from the front in its production has been the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai. So far, 91 Vande Bharat train sets have been delivered to various railway zones in the last two years. ICF was businessline’s Changemaker of the Year 2024.
U Subba Rao, General Manager, ICF, says the making of Vande Bharat Express trains has given an incentive and push to the whole organisation.
“Vande Bharat is a whole brand of trains, not just the chair car train. It’s a quantum jump from the trains we had so far as this train brings better comfort and passenger amenities; the touch and feel is better and the feeling is that you are in a better class of train,” he told businessline in an earlier interview.
“We are not replicating the trains of Europe nor are they equal to the high-speed trains of China, but they have put us on that path,” he explained.
Capable of travelling at 160 kph, (but running around 130 kph or less because of current limitations with the tracks that are now being progressively upgraded) these trains are faster than the Shatabdi Express, which so far had the pride of place for fast rail travel in the country.
The indigenous Vande Bharat train was unveiled in February 2019. Its precursor, Train 18, was designed and developed in 2018 entirely at the ICF in Perambur, Chennai.
Production boost
However, the Vande Bharat Express got momentum from late 2022 with Indian Railways introducing the service on new routes and ICF ramping up production along with other coach factories such as MCF, Raebareli and RCF, Kapurthala, later.
These semi high-speed trains have speeded up rail travel on shorter routes such as Chennai to Bengaluru, where you can travel to either city centre in a shade under four-and-a-half hours, which beats air travel by a couple of hours, considering the reporting time and travel to and from the airport.
Vande Bharat trains redefined the travelling experience, offering greater comfort and reduced travel times. It also gave renewed purpose to ICF, which was founded in 1955 and has emerged as the largest rail coach manufacturer in the world.
Vande Bharat trains are not the only one that ICF makes but will produce Vande Bharat Sleeper trainsets. ICF will also develop mixed Amrit Bharat 3.0 trains, offering a blend of AC and non-AC coaches for balanced comfort and affordability.
There is a plan to introduce Gati Shakthi Freight EMUs, a semi-high-speed train for e-commerce and FMCG logistics, equipped with advanced container handling systems and crew amenities, said the GM.
For the current fiscal, ICF has been entrusted with a target of 4,302 coaches, including 3,127 LHB (Linke-Hofmann-Busch) coaches and 1,155 distributed power rolling stock coaches, which make up the Vande Bbarat train sets.
Published on September 14, 2025
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