Chennai: The Railway Board has directed the production of 1,500 additional Vande Bharat chair car coaches, which will be used to upgrade Shatabdi Express services across the country.

Of the total, 720 coaches will be manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Perambur, while the remaining units will be produced at the Kapurthala Coach Factory and the Modern Coach Factory. The entire production is scheduled to be completed by the 2029-30 financial year.

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Railway coach factories had earlier stopped manufacturing coaches for Shatabdi Express trains. With this fresh order, ageing Shatabdi coaches will now be replaced by newly built Vande Bharat chair car coaches, offering improved comfort and modern amenities.

The new coaches will cater to 88 Shatabdi Express trains, which typically operate with either 16 or 20 coaches each.

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Over the past six years, Indian Railways has already manufactured 82 trains comprising Vande Bharat chair car coaches. The remaining coaches from earlier allocations were distributed to the Southern Railway and Northern Railway zones, though these services are yet to be operational.