Besides rolling out the Vande Bharat trainsets, the Centre is looking to make several changes over the next couple of years as it works towards standardising the rolling stock of Indian Railways, according to top sources in the government. Among changes planned are automatic doors for all trains, anti-jerk couplers to rid passengers of sudden jerks, and two engines pulling a train to make it a low-cost alternative for semi-high speed trainsets. The push-pull method of running trains — with engines at the back and another at the front — allows faster acceleration and deceleration, like Vande Bharat trains, which work on distributed power technology. This results in reducing journey time significantly while using the existing LHB coaches. A Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express has been running since 2019 with reduced run time. Sources said the Railway Board has decided to proliferate this, as a low-cost, semi-high speed train is capable of running upward of 160 km per hour. Modifications are being worked out in WAP-5 and WAP-7 classes of engines, capable of such speeds, at the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works. One rake is expected to be rolled out by October. The idea around standardisation of rolling stock is to reduce maintenance costs in future, sources said. The Railways has already identified routes to roll out regular trains comprising only general coaches and non-AC sleeper class, to be deployed to meet excess demand in areas such as eastern UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and others to connect with big cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, places in Kerala, among others. “These will be regular trains catering to the perennial demand which is excess of the current supply of trains. These will be over and above the seasonal specials we run to manage rush,” an official said.
