Vande Bharat Express: Average Speed Decreases, Here’s Why

The speed of the prestigious Vande Bharat Express trains, introduced by the central government, has decreased. Initially, these trains ran at an average speed of 84.48 km/h, but currently, they operate at an average speed of 76.25 km/h. The railway department revealed this information in response to an RTI application filed by an activist. During the trial run, the Vande Bharat Express trains achieved a speed of 99 km/h. Railway officials stated that in the early days (2020-21), Vande Bharat trains ran at an average speed of 84.48 km/h. However, they later reduced the speed on some routes due to the country's geographical and climatic conditions.

By 2022-23, the speed of these trains was reduced to an average of 81.38 km/h. They mentioned that running trains at an average speed of 75 km/h during the rainy season is challenging. In reality, Vande Bharat trains have the capability to reach speeds of up to 160 km/h. However, the railway tracks in the country are not capable of supporting such high speeds, with only a few tracks, like those between Delhi and Agra, being able to accommodate this speed.

Currently, some trains are still running at a maximum speed of 160 km/h. However, the maximum speed on several other tracks is much lower. For example, on the Dehradun - Anand Vihar track, the average speed is 63.42 km/h, on the Patna - Ranchi track it is 62.9 km/h, and on the Coimbatore - Bangalore track, trains run at an average speed of only 58.11 km/h.