The ambitious sleeper edition of Vande Bharat train sets may face production delay, The delay is due to the freezing design, for more toilets, new luggage zones in every coach and a pantry car in each train to meet Indian requirements.
The Indian government even signing the contract, 14 months prior with the Indo-Russia joint venture, has to approve the design of the coach. The major shareholding is by TMH — the largest manufacturer of locomotives and rail equipment in Russia and one of the five largest manufacturers of new rolling stock globally.
This contract was signed on September 27, 2023 between Kinet Railway Solutions Limited and the Indian Railways. The contract held that Kinet will supply a total of 1,920 Vande Bharat Sleeper coaches to the Indian Railways and will offer maintenance services for 35 years.
The Marathwada Rail Coach Factory (MRCF) in Latur, Maharashtra, was supposed to start producing these trains by the end of this year. But now, it seems to face delay until they agree to fulfil 80 train sets with 24 cars each instead of 120 trainsets with 16 cars each. In addition, there has to be four lavatory rooms per car, one pantry car in each train, less pantry space per train, and luggage zones in each end car of each train.
