Draft:Vande Bharat Express (trainset)

This article is about the rolling stock used by Vande Bharat Express (train service) and both are not the same article as they may seem by the name, as the rolling stock don't have its own separate name and is known by its service name only.

Vande Bharat Express is India's first indigenously built Semi- High speed trainset; based on the concept of Multi-unit Distributed Traction powered EMU trainsets; designed for mainline long distance operations.

It is jointly designed and manufactured by Integral Coach Factory and Medha Servo Drives (Pvt.) Ltd. at Perambur, Chennai under the Indian government's Make in India initiative. The service was named Vande Bharat Express on 27 January 2019. These trainsets will be replacing premium trains of Indian Railways, like Shatabdi, Rajdhani, Duronto Express etc. in coming days.

Background & History
Indian Railways wanted to introduce trainsets into its service from a long time to replace premium trains like Shatabdi Express; from locomotive hauled coaches to a Semi-high speed trainset. As Indian Railways was searching for suitable manufacturer, from where they could import trainsets, and later manufacture in India after signing a Transfer of Technology Agreement; a Spain based trainset manufacturer Talgo offered Indian Railways to allow them to conduct Speed Trails in India. Ministry of Railways approved the request put by Talgo, as trials were to be funded by Talgo themselves. Talgo brought 9 coaches in April 2016 to India for trials. After extensive trials till September 2016, RDSO gave a Red flag to Talgo; even though the officials were impressed with Talgo's performance, it got rejected for various reasons; major reason being the design of coaches were not feasible for Indian Railways infrastructure.

In 2016 Integral Coach Factory approached Ministry of Railways, with the idea of making a trainset indigenously at par with international standards with already available technology at half the cost compared to that of foreign manufacturers from where the Ministry was seeking to import from. Ministry finally approved the request in April 2017 and manufacturing commenced, and the first prototype was made and rolled out in just 18 months. The unit cost of the first prototype 16 coach trainset was approximately estimated at just ₹100 crore (US$13 million), and it is expected to go down further with subsequent production At the original price, it is estimated to be 40% cheaper than a similar trainset imported from Europe.

As ICF had set deadline for rolling out the first prototype by 2018, they kept the code name of the project as Train-18.

Rake Formation & Depots
Traction Equipment Layout

 Driving Trailer Coach (DTC)/ Non-Driving Trailer Coach (NDTC) : These coaches have Compressor, Battery and Battery Charger units all mounted below the underframe.

 Motor Coach (MC) : These coaches have Line & Traction Converter and Brake Chopper units mounted below the underframe and the bogies of these coaches are fitted with Traction motors.

 Trailer Coach (TC) : These coaches have Transformer and Auxiliary Converter fitted below the underframe; whereas Pantograph and VCB fitted on the roof.

Abbreviations:


 * DTC- Driving Trailer Coach
 * NDTC- Non-Driving Trailer Coach
 * MC- Motor Coach
 * MC2- Motor Coach with electrical change over switch
 * MC3- 180° rotated MC2
 * TC- Trailer Coach having Pantograph

Class of Traveling:


 * EC- Executive Chair Car (2x2 seats)
 * CC- AC Economy Chair Car (3x2 seats)

Depots
Shakurbasti, Mumbai Central, Chennai, Bilaspur, Howrah, Visakhapatnam, Wadi Bunder (CSMT)

First Generation
Two initial prototype trainsets manufactured by Integral Coach Factory & Medha Servo Drives (Pvt.) Ltd. in between 2017 & 2019, that are already in service are known as the First Generation of Vande Bharat Express trainsets; also known as Train-18.

Design & Development
The core design and dimensions of the coaches are almost similar to that of the LHB coaches. As there was a lack of Bogie and Interior designing experts; ICF hired consultants from Austria and Poland for the same; but made sure that Integral Coach Factory do not loose their Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) over it. M/s TRAKTIONS SYSTEME AUSTRIA & M/s Medha Servo Drives joint venture worked on designing the Bogie frame and the Traction motor in Hyderabad; while M/s EC ENGINEERING, Poland and Integral Coach Factory worked together in designing the interiors.

For the first two prototype trainsets; Brake System, Automatic Sliding Plug Doors, Seats, Wheels & Axles are the only items which were imported, rest all the components were Made in India by various Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Wheels & Axles were manufactured by a Czech Republic based company M/s BONATRANS; Brake systems were supplied by Knorr-Bremse, Germany; Automatic Sliding Plug Doors were imported from China and seats were imported from Spain and Italy. The Vande Bharat Express trainset is made up of 80% indigenously manufactured components, while 20% of the parts were imported. The percentage of indigenously manufactured components will increase gradually with subsequent productions.

Trial Run
The first trial run was done on 29 October 2018 in Chennai. An Indian Railways official reported that "some fuses went off" during the trial in Chennai, but that the issue was minor and quickly fixed. The trainset leaved for Delhi on 11th November and arrived on 13th November. Testing commenced along a section of track between Bareilly and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh on 17 November, but the location was subsequently changed to the stretch of rail between Moradabad and Rampur due to unspecified issues with the initial section of track. The Moradabad–Rampur testing occurred at low speeds ranging from 30-60 km/h. After the lower-speed testing, the train was moved to a section of track between Kota and Sawai Madhopur to be tested at operating speed. A team of engineers from Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) supervised the testing and was given the go-ahead for the final speed test.

During its trials, Train 18 reached speeds of 180 km/h, the highest speed any train in India has reached in the trials, and finally got certified and found to be fit for 160 km/h commercial runs by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) on 12 December 2018, that marked the end of oscillation trials and cleared to get introduced into commercial service. First trainset was put to commercial service on 15th February 2019 as New Delhi - Varanasi Vande Bharat Express. Second trainset was innaugurated as New Delhi - Katra Vande Bharat Express on 5th October 2019.

Second Generation
The Second Generation Vande Bharat Express trainsets are also known as "Train-44" as it took 44 months for ICF to make its 1st prototype. Starting with the 2nd Generation Vande Bharat Express trainsets; it will be now manufactured by Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli and Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala along with Integral Coach Factory, Chennai

Passenger Variant
First trainset rolled out of ICF on 12th August 2022. The extensive Oscillation Trails were done between Chandigarh - Sanhewal, Kota - Nagda and Delhi - Agra sections. 1st rake commenced commercial service between Mumbai-Gandhinagar on 30th September,2022.

Difference between 1st & 2nd Generation trainsets
Second Generation carried the same exterior design as that of the First Generation, however many under the hood improvements were done to it, as suggested by Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and Maintenance Depots.Feedbacks from the passengers traveled in the First Generation trainsets were also taken into consideration.

 Major changes in the Second Generation compared to its First Generation are: 


 * Seats were changed to pushback reclining type compared to slide-forward type reclining.
 * Time to attain speed of 160 kmph is now reduced to 140 seconds, compared to 180 seconds earlier.
 * The residual acceleration at 160 kmph will be 0.1 m/second as against 0.05 m/second.
 * Four emergency windows were added in every coach.
 * Kavach (TCAS), a SIL-4 certified indigenously developed train protection system; is provided to avoid collisions and prevent SPAD.
 * Underslung electrical equipment can now withstand floods upto a height of 650 mm as of 400 mm earlier.
 * VVVF compressors with Photo catalytic UV lamps were added to RMPU unit for germ free supply of air without voltage fluctuation caused by Neutral sections.
 * Two 32 inches infotainment screens are given instead of four 24 inches screens in each coach.
 * Coach Control Management System (CCMS) with 18 inch touch screen display are provided for monitoring the air-conditioning, communication and feedback to control centre/maintenance staff through GSM/GPRS.
 * The 2nd Generation trainsets are now having four platform side cameras including rear view cameras outside the coach instead of two in the 1st Generation trainsets.
 * SIL-2 certified Fire detection system based on an aerosol fire suppression system in all coaches are provided in place of a smoke detection system in the earlier generation trainsets.
 * Two signal exchange lights were installed on the coaches for exchange of signals with the wayside stations.
 * As there were frequent cases of filter choking of Auxiliary Converters & Traction Motors in 1st Generation trainsets; a separate ventilation duct with a bigger filter mesh is being provided on the sidewall and oil cooled Traction Converters are being used.
 * The driver-guard communication comes with a voice recording facility now.
 * There will also be Class 3 and 4 surge arrestors for electrical safety as against Class 2 and 3 surge arrestors earlier.
 * Four emergency lights are provided in each coach for powering lights in case all electricity connections fail. The earlier generation trainsets did not have any emergency lights.
 * The 2nd Generation trainsets has a battery backup of 3 hours compare to 1 hour earlier, for emergency systems. Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries are used and charged by 415 V AC current. In 1st Generation batteries were charged by DC current.
 * Train Control & Management System (TCMS) is now SIL-2 certified, with two displays in each cab.
 * Gigabit comfort network for Passenger Information System (PIS) and CCTV. CCTVs can record in 25fps.
 * 415 V synchronized Auxiliary Converter is provided for 100% power availability incase of failure of Auxiliary converter, equivalent to one basic unit in place of one Auxiliary converter failure in 1st Generation trainsets.
 * Ester oil (ClassK) and ClassH with enamel insulation for Transformer is used.
 * Overall weight of 16 car trainset is reduced by 33.68 tons compared to its 1st Generation.

Highspeed Parcel Variant (Freight Metro)
It will be used mainly to carry parcels of e-commerce companies, that is presently monopolised by roadways. Indian Railways is planning to built 25 such trainsets with an aim to augment its freight market share in freight logistics from 28% to 40% by 2030 as a part of government's "PM Gati Shakti" initiative. First rake is expected to rollout of Integral Coach Factory by December 2022.

Third Generation
Unlike in the previous two generations of Vande Bharat Express trainsets, in which there were only seats for daytime travel, suitable for 6-8 hours journey; The Third Generation will be having sleeping berths, having AC-1, AC-2 and AC-3 tier coaches for long distance overnight journey. However the carbody will be made of Stainless Steel; and the overall exterior design and features will be similar to that of its 2nd Generation trainsets. Indian Railways has already released tender for manufacturing of 200 3rd Generation Vande Bharat Express trainsets, and is expected to roll out first trainset by the end of 2024.

Fourth Generation
The fourth generation Vande Bharat Express trains will be made of aluminum and will have sleeper coaches for long-distance journeys. These trainsets will have AC-1, AC-2, and AC-3 tier coaches. Indian Railways will be manufacturing total of 200 4th Generation trainsets in two variants (100 trainsets of each variant). One variant will be based upon Distributed Power System (Self propelled) like its previous generations and will feature Tilting technology. Another variant will be based upon Concentrated Powercar System (Push-pull) and will feature Articulated bogies.