India: Under a new plan from the country’s Ministry of Railways, between 2026 and 2030 the fleet of national operator Indian Railways will be expanded by 88 Vande Bharat trains with seating accommodation. In parallel, multi-billion-dollar contracts for sleeper trainsets on the same platform continue to be delivered by several manufacturers.
ROLLINGSTOCK has gathered the order details for both variants of the platform, including production sites, with a short history of the Indian-built rolling stock model.
Vande Bharat with seating accommodation
The 88 trains (1,500 cars) will be built across three sites. The largest share, 720 cars, will be built at the ICF plant in Chennai. The rest goes to the RCF facility in Kapurthala (336 cars) and the MCF plant in Raebareli (444 cars). All three are Indian Railways production units.
For the current financial year (April 2026 – March 2027), 23 16-car trainsets are planned. Another 45 16-car and 20 20-car trainsets are due in 2028–2030. The new EMUs will replace the locomotive-hauled Shatabdi Express day services, which currently run with LHB coaches (Alstom-designed, localised in India in 2001).
Vande Bharat sleeper
First Vande Bharat sleeper train. Source: PTI
The programmes launched in 2022–2023 are currently in delivery. Over the next five years, Indian Railways plans to procure 208–210 trainsets, each 16 cars long, for a total of 3,328–3,360 cars. The orders sit with three independent manufacturers:
— Kinet Railway Solutions, a joint venture of RVNL and TMH: 120 trains (1,920 cars). Assembly of the first prototype is already under way at the Marathwada Rail Coach Factory in Latur and is due to finish by mid-summer. The contract covers 35 years of maintenance and is valued at $6.5 bln including price indexation.
— A Titagarh-BHEL consortium: 80 trains (1,280 cars). The contract is valued at $2.54 bln and also covers 35 years of maintenance. Production will be set up at the Titagarh plant in Uttarpara. According to the company’s most recent statements, the first trainset is due for delivery by the end of 2027.
— BEML: 10 trains (160 cars). The first two were built in 2024–2025 and have been in service since January 2026. Production takes place at the Bengaluru plant under ICF technology; the $71 mln contract is due to be completed by the end of this year.
Possible exterior design of the Vande Bharat sleeper for Indian Railways from Kinet RS. Source: Kinet RS
A separate procurement of aluminium-bodied Vande Bharat sleepers was also planned at one stage, with a first tender for 100 trains issued in 2022. The lowest bid received from Alstom was deemed excessive by the tender committee and the order was cancelled. No new aluminium-bodied tenders have been announced since.
In April 2026, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said 12 sleeper trains, two more than previously contracted, would enter service by the end of the year. He did not specify which plant would build the additional trainsets.
History of the Vande Bharat platform
The Vande Bharat EMU, originally designated Train 18, is India’s first long-distance multiple-unit train. Its development was driven by a government goal to halve the cost of procuring imported trains.
The platform was developed at the ICF plant in the late 2010s under the national Make in India programme. The two first-generation prototype units entered service in 2019, with serial production of the second generation beginning in 2022. Trains run in 8-, 16- or 20-car formations, half of the cars powered. The design speed is 160 km/h, with up to 183 km/h reached in trials, and acceleration of 0.7 m/s².
Second-class interior of a Vande Bharat train. Source: Sameer2905/Wikimedia
For passengers, the trains are positioned as a premium long-distance product. All classes have air conditioning, power sockets and bio-vacuum toilets. Trains with seating accommodation are intended for routes of up to 800 km, sleeper trains for 800 to 1,200 km.
Sleeper-car interior of a Vande Bharat train. Source: Hindustan Times
In 2024, a suburban variant was rolled out under the Vande Metro brand, later renamed Namo Bharat, intended for journeys of 100–250 km. Plans called for 10–12 trainsets, but only two were built and no further orders have followed. Since 2023, Mumbai commuter operator MRVC has been running a tender for 238 Vande Metro-format trains (2,856 cars). The results have yet to be announced.
In March 2026 an experimental 16-car Vande Bharat freight train was unveiled. Its cars can carry up to 264 t of palletised cargo. Two freight trains had earlier been announced for testing and pilot operation.
First Vande Bharat trainset built at MCF. Source: India’s Ministry of Railways
By the end of 2025, 100 passenger trains of the Vande Bharat platform had been built: 96 at the lead ICF plant, 2 at RCF (Vande Metro) and 2 at BEML (sleeper). In spring 2026, production of EMUs with seating accommodation was also launched at the RCF and MCF sites. The latter has built a 16-car trainset with Siemens Mobility electrical equipment, which has now entered trial runs.
