India is set to begin exporting complete Vande Bharat trains to international markets in the next three to four years. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the upcoming exports on Sunday while flagging off the inaugural run of the Vande Bharat Sleeper Express connecting Bengaluru and Mumbai.
Minister Vaishnaw stated that Indian Railways is continuously upgrading the indigenous train sets with each new iteration. The nation has already started exporting technologically complex components, such as propulsion systems and bogies, to countries including Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, and the United States. According to the minister, this manufacturing initiative aligns with the government's Viksit Bharat and Make in India visions, as the design and production are predominantly completed within the country.
During the announcement, Vaishnaw also revealed that Karnataka's next Vande Bharat Sleeper train will originate in Bengaluru, connect North Karnataka areas toward Hubballi, and travel onward to Pune and Mumbai. The newly launched Bengaluru-Mumbai service features a 16-coach formation with 823 berths across fully air-conditioned cars, designed to improve overnight connectivity between Maharashtra and Karnataka. Union Minister of State V Somanna noted that the service covers a distance of 1,118 kilometers in approximately 16 hours, reducing travel time by nearly eight hours.
The inaugural special departed from Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal in Bengaluru. Regular commercial services are scheduled to begin on November 2 from Mumbai and November 3 from Bengaluru, operating six days a week along a route covering key centers like Raichur, Yadgir, Kalaburagi, Guntakal, Solapur, and Pune.
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