India's Vande Bharat trains could be on international tracks next

India is working on a plan to export Vande Bharat trains, railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at the the Global Business Summit. 

Indian Railways has reportedly been receiving queries from several nations, some as far as Chile for the the export of its flagship locomotive. 

The rail ministry is developing adequate capacity for manufacturing a range of components in its own workshops for the train apart from in public and private sector units with indigenous designs and competency.

"The challenge was to develop Vande Bharatin our country by our own
engineers and the challenge has been taken very well. I can say with a good level of confidence that in the coming years, we would start exporting this train," Vaishnaw said at the Summit.

The number of Vande Bharat trains has surged to 82, with efforts underway to boost the speed of trains to 160 kilometres per hour on the New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah routes.

As of 31 January 2024, 82 Vande Bharat train services are operational nationwide, linking states with broad gauge (BG) electrified networks, Vaishnaw said.

He further explained, "besides, provision of stoppage of train services and introduction of new train services, including Vande Bharat, are ongoing processes on Indian Railways subject to operational feasibility, traffic justification, resource availability, etc."