Railways’ 2025 Gift To Commuters: Vande Bharat To Deliver World-Class Travel Experience Even On Long Distance Routes

The current average speed of Mumbai-Delhi long-distance travel is 90 km/hr with maximum permissible speed of 140 km/h for Tejas Rajdhani Express, which is the fastest among all Rajdhani train service

Faster and safer rail travel will be the feature of 2025. That is the driving force for this year. After successfully giving faster, safer and world-class travel experience and short distance conveniences like chair car trains, Indian Railways is making this a reality for long distance trains also.

Talking to Bizz Buzz, Dilip Kumar, Executive Director (PR), Indian Railways, says, “At present, the trial run is on for Vande Bharat sleeper train. It has gained a speed of 180 km per hour, which is a matter of immense pride.”

The train has achieved a peak speed of 180 km per hour in its multiple trials in the last three days. The trials will continue all through January before this world-class travel for long distance travel is made available to commuters across the nation.

Sharing a video of a successful trial in Kota Division, Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on X mentioned the speed in his post.

The video shows a nearly full to brim glass of water adjacent to a mobile on a plain surface inside the train. The water level remaining static can be seen in the video as the moving train achieves near constant peak speed of 180 km per hour exhibiting the element of comfort in the high-speed rail travel. The post came after three days of successful trials. It concluded on January 2. The video shows a fully-loaded Vande Bharat sleeper train touching the peak speed.

Of late, a 30-km run between Kota and Laban in Bundi district of Rajasthan, reached a peak speed of 180 km/hour. A day earlier, on the first day of 2025, while on a 40km trial run between Rohal Khurd to Kota, the train touched the peak of 180 km per hour. On the same day, peaks of 170 km/hr & 160km/hr were achieved on the Kota-Nagda and Rohal Khurd-Chau Mahla sections. These trials will continue in January under the supervision of RDSO, Lucknow, said Sourabh Jain, senior divisional commercial manager, Kota.

Once these trials are over, the train will be evaluated by the Railway Safety Commissioner vis-à-vis the maximum speed it can attain and sustain. It is only after passing the final stage will the trains be officially certified and handed over to Indian Railways for induction and regular service.

These trains are designed with features like automatic doors, ultra comfortable berths, wifi and an aircraft-like design. Passengers in India are already enjoying reclining seats and top grade travel experience through 136 Vande Bharat trains running on medium and short distances.

The real challenge for Railways was to add berths and test the trains for full passenger and luggage load conditions in order to convert them into Vande Bharat sleeper coaches while achieving the peak speed of 180 km/ hour.

With these successful trials, rail commuters can hope for world-class travel experience in long distance travel like Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Delhi to Mumbai, Howrah to Chennai and many other routes also. They will be beneficial as travel time will come down considerably. The current average speed of Mumbai Delhi long-distance travel is 90 km/hr with maximum permissible speed of 140 km/h for Tejas Rajdhani Express, which is the fastest among all Rajdhani train service.

Vande Bharat trains are now available in many Shatabdi train routes. The train connects major cities at short and medium distance and offers a luxurious travel experience. The trains provide a seamless blend of speed and comfort. It’s not just a mode of transportation but an experience of modern Indian engineering.