Rs 50,000 Crore Plan, 400 Vande Bharat Trains In 3 Years

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What’s happening?

In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that 400 Vande Bharat trains will be manufactured in the next three years.
Introduced in 2019, the Vande Bharat semi-high speed trains have been a novelty so far.
Two Vande Bharat trainsets (originally called Train 18) are currently running, both from Delhi — to Varanasi and Katra.
The Budget announcement signals the government’s intent to turn these self-propelled trainsets, as opposed to locomotive-hauled trains, into the future normal for India’s century-old railway system.
It comes in addition to the current plan — to be able to run 75 Vande Bharats across India by Independence Day in 2023.

Vande Bharat is a semi-high speed trainset, each of 16 coaches, and self-propelled — they do not require an engine.
This is called a distributed traction power system, which is increasingly becoming the norm the world over for passenger operations.
Distributed power gives the train higher acceleration and deceleration compared to loco-hauled trains, which take a much longer time to reach top speed or to gradually come to a halt.

On a journey of, say, 500 km with 10 stoppages, a conventional train loses a lot more time than a trainset.
A trainset gains higher average speed during the same journey, and in sections where it is allowed, also clocks semi-high-speed of 160 km/h.
With shorter journey time, a trainset is theoretically able to cover more trips, thereby carrying more people.
Railways is already in the process of making 102 new Vande Bharats, which will be an upgrade from the current two Vande Bharat trainsets.

Going by the cost of the current trainsets, the 400 announced by Sitharaman carry a potential investment of Rs 50,000 crore over the next three years.
The current Vande Bharats are being made at Rs 106 crore per trainset of 16 cars, at 2018 pricing.
The future ones will cost slightly more, because of different specifications and also inflation.
“Going by the industry practice, the sheer manufacturing of 400 of these trainset equipment in three years, if they can indeed make them in three years — there will be additional employment generation to the tune of 10,000-15,000.
And pumping in around Rs 50,000 crore into the country’s rolling stock industry, even if we take it as Rs 10,000 crore per year, means a big boost in the sectors of component manufacturing, supplies etc,”
Said Sudhanshu Mani, former GM of Integral Coach Factory, Chennai and the chief architect of India’s first Vande Bharat project.

Forty-four new Vande Bharat trainsets, the propulsion of which is being designed by Hyderabad-based Medha Servo Drive, will start rolling out from May this year.
The first one will undergo testing and trials in May and the second in June, the Railways Ministry says.
From August-September, 5-7 trainsets will be produced per month in three production units: ICF Chennai, MCF Rae Bareli, and RCF Kapurthala.
These trains will have improvements in terms of better seating, anti-bacterial system in AC, less noise, the ability to hit 160 km/h in 140 seconds, and other aspects.
For the next batch of 58 trains, tenders were called for and nine firms have been shortlisted, including Medha, Siemens, BHEL, Titagar Wagons, and Bombardier.
From the seating-only configuration, work is on to bring in sleeper-type Vande Bharats for overnight journeys. They may be introduced within these batches.

The Budget has announced that the 400 new trains will have “better efficiency”.
In Railways, that has translated into being more energy-efficient than the present stock, along with other upgrades internally.
For that, Railways is looking at making several of these trainsets with aluminium instead of steel.
An aluminium body will make each trainset around 40-80 tonnes lighter than a current Vande Bharat, officials said.
India had so far shied away from making aluminium coaches because they are typically more expensive than their steel
If made with aluminium, the Vande Bharats may cost around Rs 130 crore per trainset, sources said.
However, engineers say the overall gain comes from the saving of energy and better speed, translating into higher earning potential.

In Railways, there is confidence that the target of making 400 trainsets will be met in three years.
Outside Railways, there is caution.
Industry players told that in order to achieve the target, Railways will have to pool in all resources and multiple players to deliver the propulsion system and also carry out the assembling.
“The industry players and Railways manufacturing units, both shall need close coordination and timely allocation of resources and regular monitoring to ensure the induction of these trains in the shortest time possible, as envisaged by Indian Railways.”
The Railway Board has formed a committee to recommend how best to go forward.
Sources said chances are high that multiple players are engaged to complete the order in three years.

Q) 3 years back, Indian railway establish South Coast Railway Zone. Its headquarter is located at?