Chennai: The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai plans to launch the third rake of Vande Bharat Express in March 2022. Suneet Sharma, Chairman of the Railway Board, inspected the ongoing work and expressed satisfaction with the progress made in the much-anticipated project of building 102 Vande Bharat trains for use across the country.

In addition to the Vande Bharat replica, the Chennai-based production unit is expected to roll out the first prototype of the Vande Bharat train with 16 coaches in March, followed by the second prototype in April next year, according to the ICF. In order to meet the deadline, the Railways have called an emergency meeting of Integral Coach Factory and Medha to resolve some issues so that the first prototype of the Vande Bharat train can be rolled out in March.

On the Delhi-Varanasi-Delhi and Delhi-Katra-Delhi routes, the first two trains of Train18, India's first Semi-high-speed trains, rolled out by ICF in 2018, are now known as Vande Bharat Expresses. The Ministry of Railways floated tenders for the manufacturing of 58 rakes, each with 16 coaches, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the operation of 75 Vande Bharat trains on Independence Day this year. Tenders for 44 rakes have already been issued.

Good news for people travelling by train, Railway's another big decision

Railway's major changes, keep these essentials in mind while booking tickets

Good news for those visiting North India besides Vaishno Devi-Ramlala