INDIA: West Central Railway has added 598 seats to the Rewa–Rani Kamlapati Vande Bharat, more than doubling capacity to 1,128 through October 24 under a temporary 16-coach formation.

Blue-and-white Vande Bharat trainset standing beside railway infrastructure.
Rani Kamalapati–Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express train at a yard. Illustrative photo. Photo: Sanjeev4125, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The temporary revision applies to Train No. 20174 from Rewa to Rani Kamlapati and Train No. 20173 in the opposite direction from August 7 to October 24, 2026. During that period, the service moves from eight coaches to 16.

Capacity rises from 530 to 1,128 seats

The eight-coach formation provides 530 seats: one Executive Chair Car with 52 seats, two Chair Cars with 44 seats each and five Chair Cars with 78 seats each.

Under the revised formation, the train has two Executive Chair Cars with 52 seats each, two Chair Cars with 44 seats each and 12 Chair Cars with 78 seats each. That takes total capacity to 1,128 seats, an increase of 598 on each service in both directions.

The Ministry of Railways listed Train Nos. 20173/20174 among 81 Vande Bharat chair-car pairs operating on the Indian Railways network as of July 23, 2026.

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Passenger demand is cited, but detailed figures are not

West Central Railway attributed the temporary expansion to rising passenger demand and operational requirements. The published announcement, however, does not provide route-specific occupancy, booking or wait-list figures that quantify the increase in demand behind the additional 598 seats.

That distinction matters because the capacity change is confirmed, while the scale of the underlying demand is not disclosed in the available announcement.

October 24 remains the stated cutoff

The 16-coach formation is explicitly temporary and is scheduled to remain in effect through October 24, 2026. The announcement does not explain why that date was selected or state what coach formation will apply afterward.

For passengers, the confirmed change is therefore limited to the stated period: 598 additional seats per service, created by doubling the train from eight to 16 coaches. No permanent expansion is announced.

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