No sleeper yet: Bengaluru-Mumbai Vande Bharat launch delayed again

Bengaluru: The highly anticipated Vande Bharat sleeper service between KSR Bengaluru and CSMT Mumbai is likely to face further delays before hitting the tracks. Despite missing the Aug target, South Western Railway (SWR) still does not have a train ready to operate the service, with the allocated rake now being moved out of Bengaluru.

Since the flagship service is proposed to operate overnight, six days a week in both directions, two rakes will be required for its operation. Vande Bharat sleeper trains are currently being manufactured in Bengaluru by PSU Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) as part of a joint venture with Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai.

So far, six rakes have been delivered to the railways, of which two are already in use on the Howrah–Kamakhya Jn service. The Railway Board had initially planned in July to allocate two rakes for the Bengaluru–Mumbai route and two to the Northern Railway (NR) zone.

The board has now changed its decision and decided to transfer one rake allocated to SWR in Bengaluru for Shakur Basti Railway Station under NR zone. The move has left Bengaluru with no ready trains while the second allocated rake is yet to be handed over. However, the railways is yet to allocate two remaining rakes.