New Delhi: The Railway Board has decided to upgrade Vande Bharat trains with more coaches on seven operational routes after reviewing high occupancy levels, officials said.

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The routes selected for augmentation are:

  • Mangaluru Central–Thiruvananthapuram Central
  • Secunderabad–Tirupati
  • Chennai Egmore–Tirunelveli
  • Madurai–Bengaluru Cantt
  • Deoghar–Varanasi
  • Howrah–Rourkela
  • Indore–Nagpur

Officials said released trains will also be introduced on some new routes.

Upgrade details

At present, four 8-car and three 16-car Vande Bharat trains operate on these routes.

“The 16-car train will be upgraded to 20-car and those having 8-car will be increased to 16-car,” said Dilip Kumar, Executive Director, Information and Publicity, Railway Board.

He further noted, “On the basis of occupancy for Financial Year 2025-26 (up to 31.07.2025) and feasibility for augmentation, a tentative augmentation of three 16-car Vande Bharat train services with 20-car and four 8-car Vande Bharat trains with 16-car has been planned.”

Additional availability

Officials said more 20-car Vande Bharat trains will be ready for launch and one 16-car train will be available for augmentation.

“A tentative replacement plan of Vande Bharat train service is planned on the basis of occupancy. After this, the released rakes of 16-car and 8-car will be utilised for running new services,” Kumar added.

Immediate expansion

According to the plan, Mangaluru Central–Thiruvananthapuram Central, Secunderabad–Tirupati and Chennai Egmore–Tirunelveli routes with existing 16-car services will be upgraded to 20-car. The remaining four routes currently operating with 8-car services will be expanded to 16-car.