Jodhpur-Delhi Vande Bharat to Expand to 20 Coaches

Jodhpur-Delhi Vande Bharat is set to expand to 20 coaches. It is part of a wider set of railway development measures. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced them for Rajasthan. This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

On Friday, the 20-coach Vande Bharat Express made its inaugural run. The run was between Jodhpur and Delhi Cantt. At the event, Vaishnaw said the train would move from its current 8-coach rake. It would become a 20-coach formation. Also, he linked the decision to strong passenger demand for the service.

Vaishnaw told the media:

“The Vande Bharat train from Jodhpur to Delhi is being upgraded from 8 coaches to a 20-coach train. Vande Bharat is a very popular train,”

Rajasthan railway upgrades include new services

The minister also announced measures beyond the Vande Bharat expansion. They included a new Jaisalmer-Ahmedabad rail connection. In addition, he announced infrastructure expansion in key railway hubs of western Rajasthan.

He said:

“Today, the service from Jaisalmer to Ahmedabad will also start, and to enable new trains to begin in Jodhpur, which is a very important centre for western Rajasthan, a coaching terminal will also be set up in Jodhpur,”

Vaishnaw added that Jaisalmer would also receive a coaching care centre.

“Today, a coaching care centre will also be inaugurated in Jaisalmer,”

Earlier on Friday, Vaishnaw arrived in Jodhpur. There, the Railway Minister said the Centre was continuing railway development projects across Rajasthan. He said the work was being carried out under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.

Meanwhile, he said western Rajasthan was seeing new rail lines. At the same time, station modernisation work and additional train services were being introduced. The stated aim was to improve regional connectivity.

Western Rajasthan connectivity and rail projects

According to Vaishnaw, a daily service now links western Rajasthan with Chennai. Also, new daily services to Pune and Hyderabad have been launched. Separately, he mentioned the earlier launch of a Bikaner-Mumbai train. He also referred to the newly inaugurated Jaisalmer-Ahmedabad rail service.

The minister said the Centre had allocated more than ₹10,000 crore. The allocation was for railway development in Rajasthan. Several works are currently in progress, he noted. For example, these include new railway stations and fresh line constructions.

He also referred to long-pending projects. One was the gauge conversion of the Marwar Junction-Mavli section. He said that work is moving ahead. In addition, work has started on the Merta-Pushkar rail line project.

Separately, Vaishnaw addressed local requests. He said the demand for a direct rail service to Haridwar had been noted. In addition, he said a suitable arrangement would be made soon. He added that “good news” on the issue would follow shortly.

News on railway transport, industry, and railway technologies from Railway Supply that you might have missed: