The truth of Vande Bharat trains!

M.Y.Siddiqui

Notwithstanding the claims of the union government
in the Ministry of Railways that Vande Bharat Express trains, also
known as Train 18, is first ever India’s indigenously designed and
manufactured semi-high speed trains providing a modern and
comfortable rail travel experience to passengers with enhanced
safety standards and world class services, the high pitched
propaganda of Vande Bharat hides many realities. There are several
reports of people travelling in Vande Bharat Express facing hardships
with the trains running late by eight to ten hours on an average. Its
tickets cost 2.5 times higher than inter-city Shatabdi Express trains,
with the costs of 48 bogies of Vande Bharat trains equaling the costs
of 1000 bogies of Shatabdis.

Some other disconcerting deficiencies are: over 40 service
providers and about 12 sanitation workers, except guard, train
superintendent/train manager, TTEs, and maintenance staff who are
regular government employees, are outsourced (private workers)
employed through a contractor. The service providers (workers) are
paid Rs.12,000 and sanitation workers Rs.10,000 each respectively a
month, with no resting facilities and medical care. Their working
hours stretch longer from more than 16 hours to 24 hours in flagrant
violation of the government’s own Labour Code. They suffer from
lack of sleep and body fatigue with a telling effect on their physical
and mental health. On an average, their work hours comprise 120
hours a week and about 480 hours a month. Basic facilities like
health care, Employees State Insurance (ESI), provident fund being
out of reach for such outsourced employees

Such a model of generating employment and development
is faulty and unsustainable. In place of providing regular employment
to the workforce, the union government is promoting the current
ecosystem designed to squeeze the poor and the marginalized.
Added to this, Vande Bharat trains enjoy low occupancy because of
high cost tariff with no free food as part of tickets like Rajdhanis,
Shatabdis and Dorontos. In Vande Bharat a passenger has to pay for
food, which is priced exorbitantly. For example, a passenger has to
pay Rs.270 for food on board the Vande Bharat for a journey of less

than two hours between Bengaluru and Mysore. Besides, for a train
like Vande Bharat claimed to be a semi high-speed train it must have
a speed of 160 kilometres (kms) an hour, which is far from the truth.
Normally, it runs between 110 kms to 130 kms per hour speed.
Rajdhanis, Shatabdis and Dorontos do run on the same speed
although Shatabdis on New Delhi-Agra-Bhopal route is claimed to be
running at semi- high speed of 160 kms per hour between New Delhi-
Agra.

Vande Bharat is elitist train services across the country
with no new trains for common people especially migrant workers
under the current RSS Pariwar union government. Indian Railways
represent two Bharats. One is elitist catering to certain income
groups alone and not for the welfare of all. There are overcrowdings
in non-reserved and sleeper coaches. As a result, non-reserved
coaches passengers enter sleeper coaches with TTEs charging
sleeper coach ticket rate plus penalty, thus overcrowding both non-
reserved and sleeper coaches. Unless Janata/Sramik Expresses are
brought back and run regularly, trains will continue to be
overcrowded and decongesting overcrowding in trains will remain
elusive.

It is also true Vande Bharat trains do not enjoy priorities
over other trains. Rajdhanis, Shatabdis and Dorontos enjoy priority
over all other trains to reach their destinations on time. Vande Bharat
is fully automatic, has Wi-Fi on board and three versions—chair car,
sleeper and metro. First Vande Bharat Sleeper train has been
introduced recently. Vande Bharat is fully electric and runs without
locomotive with self-acceleration and self-deceleration, with
enhanced accessibility of mobile charging points and automatic
doors. Its an ambitious train projects of Indian Railways and runs six
days a week. It is also a medium distance super fast express service
operated by Indian Railways with all reserved A.C. chair car services
connecting cities that are less than 800 kilometrs and takes less than
10 hours to travel with existing services. Its services are poor and
overshadowed by Rajdhanis, Shatabdis and Dorontos! The only
private operated train services are Tejas Express between New Delhi
and Lucknow in collaboration with Indian Railways Catering and
Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the ticketing arms of Indian Railways.

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