Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Shares Images Of New Vande Bharat Train With Sleeper Coaches, Expected Launch In 2024

The minister did not specify when will the new sleeper Vande Bharat train start running next year, but a report claimed that it could be February 2024.

Concept images of the Vande Bharat (Sleeper version) shared by the Union Railways Minister

Sleek design, cosy berths and modern lighting -- pictures posted by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw got netizens excited about what the sleeper version of the Vande Bharat trains could look like, with many comparing the coaches to first-class cabins in flights. The new version of the high-speed train is expected to be ready by early 2024 and the pictures have raised the expectations of people. So far, the train only came in the chair-car version.

Concept train - Vande Bharat (sleeper version)

Coming soon… early 2024 pic.twitter.com/OPuGzB4pAk

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) October 3, 2023

One of the users while responding to Vaishnaw's tweet wrote, "This is like business class of an aircraft."

Another user while expressing his happiness over the upgrade wrote, "Looks Amazing !!  Vande Bharat (sleeper version) would be a new benchmark for train travel in India."

Some people even compared it to flights.

Earlier on September 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off flag off nine Vande Bharat trains that connect religious and tourist destinations across 11 states which are -- Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat. These new Vande Bharat trains will further boost connectivity between the said states. 

According to a release from the Prime Minister's Office, the new trains that were flagged off are -- Udaipur - Jaipur Vande Bharat Express, Tirunelveli-Madurai - Chennai Vande Bharat Express, Hyderabad - Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express, Vijayawada - Chennai (via Renigunta) Vande Bharat Express, Patna - Howrah Vande Bharat Express, Kasaragod - Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express, Rourkela - Bhubaneswar - Puri Vande Bharat Express, Ranchi - Howrah Vande Bharat Express and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express.

The release further stated that as compared to the current fastest train along the route, Rourkela- Bhubaneswar – Puri  Vande Bharat Express and Kasaragod - Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express will be faster by about 3 hours; Hyderabad – Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express by more than 2.5 hours; Tirunelveli-Madurai- Chennai Vande Bharat Express by more than 2 hours; Ranchi – Howrah  Vande Bharat Express,  Patna – Howrah Vande Bharat Express and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express by about 1 hour; and Udaipur - Jaipur Vande Bharat Express by about half an hour.