Soon, seating capacity of Vande Bharat Express to be doubled

After one year of their run, the highly-patronised Tirunelveli — Chennai Egmore —Tirunelveli Vande Bharat Expresses are set to get their rakes augmented with an additional eight-car train sets.

After one year of their run, the highly-patronised Tirunelveli — Chennai Egmore —Tirunelveli Vande Bharat Expresses are set to get their rakes augmented with an additional eight-car train sets.

The Southern Railway has cleared a proposal made by Madurai Railway Division for converting the now eight-car-rake Vande Bharat Expresses into 16-car trains.

In a communication sent on Monday, the Southern Railway Chief Passenger Transportation Manager sought a feasibility report from Chennai, Tiruchi and Madurai railway divisions for additional train sets.

Train Nos. 20665/20666 were the first Vande Bharat Expresses with eight-car rakes, introduced for southern districts in September 2023.

“Since their inception, the trains got higher patronage. The patronage has been around 120%. Hence, Madurai Division had demanded augmentation of the rakes,” Madurai Divisional Railway Manager Sharad Srivastava told The Hindu on Tuesday.

The eight-car rake has got 530 seats in Chair Cars and Executive Chair cars. Invariable, on all days the number of passengers booking tickets in these trains is between 116% and 130%. The average occupancy rate in Tirunelveli — Chennai Egmore Vande Bharat was 121.43% in June, July and August, with 48,915 passengers having booked tickets as against the total seats of 40,280.

The return train from Chennai Egmore attracted even more passengers with an average occupancy of 122.65% in the corresponding period.