Vande Bharat Express
The Vande Bharat Express, India’s first ‘indigenous, semi-high-speed train’, continues to make rapid strides, with Rajasthan getting its first one earlier this week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rightly said that the Vande Bharat train — which had its inaugural run on the New Delhi-Varanasi route four years ago — has become a symbol of modernisation and self-reliance. The Modi-led Central Government deserves kudos for its efforts to improve railway connectivity and boost in-house manufacturing of rail coaches and rakes. The highest-ever capital outlay of Rs 2.4 lakh crore for the Railways in the 2023-24 Budget, nine times the amount earmarked in 2013-14, bears testimony to the Centre’s resolve to strengthen the nation’s transport lifeline.
The PM has claimed that the Railways had become an ‘arena of politics’ under previous governments and its modernisation was affected by political considerations. He has credited his government with the rejuvenation of the railway sector. However, there is no denying that the advancements and gains in this vital sector have been incremental — successive dispensations have made their contribution over the decades. The Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Vande Bharat’s designer and manufacturer, was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Nehru in 1955. The Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, was established in 1985, while state-of-the-art coach manufacturing units have come up in Raebareli, Latur and Sonepat in the past decade and a half. It is the cumulative effect of these initiatives that has marked the Railways’ long and eventful journey so far, even as endeavours to maximise the capacity of manufacturing facilities have gained momentum in recent years.
It is laudable that the ICF is spearheading the export of rail coaches and coach components to several countries in Asia and Africa, including Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda. The Chennai factory has also made air-conditioned new-generation rakes for Kolkata Metro. Along with these achievements on the production front, the steps to enhance passenger safety and comfort are expected to make the Railways scale greater heights. While keeping up the good work, the current government must not forget to acknowledge how much it has benefited from standing on the shoulders of its predecessors.
