[Ironhide]

Lovely thread as usual Vigsom - enjoyed reading every bit of it !


Here's an account of the Vande Bharat train journey from Delhi to Chandigarh. Things seems to be improving at a steady pace and that's a good thing for the passengers. With an aim of introducing 400 such trains in the none too distant future, railways promises to transform, for the better, travel experience for the common passengers. With introduction of better rakes, higher average speeds, cleaner, more comfortable and quiter cabins, trains ought to become more popular as a preferred mode of travel. Vande Bharat, Dedicated Freight Corridors, Bullet Trains, connecting hither to unconnected regions of J&K, Northeast and inaccessible areas of the Himalayas, focused Station Redevelopment programmes, improved punctuality, hygiene and services, an uptick in revenue, accelerated electrification - Railways seem to be doing something right here.

Cheers !

[thanixravindran]

An article on improving the journey time between MAS - SBC leveraging VB which already earned the sobriquet of slowest VB.

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/...407230680.html

Today's Tamil Hindu covered the 130Km/hr speed trial happened till Jolarpettai. Hope works will be taken up soon in Jolarpettai Bangalore section (tricky one) and improvement seen soon.

https://www.hindutamil.in/news/tamil...peed-test.html

Unrelated, it seems VB is also not running on Wednesday like Shatabdi. It becomes too identical with Shatabadi. Is maintenance the reason for it?

[PreludeSH]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

An article on improving the journey time between MAS - SBC leveraging VB which already earned the sobriquet of slowest VB.

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/...407230680.html

Today's Tamil Hindu covered the 130Km/hr speed trial happened till Jolarpettai. Hope works will be taken up soon in Jolarpettai Bangalore section (tricky one) and improvement seen soon.

https://www.hindutamil.in/news/tamil...peed-test.html

Unrelated, it seems VB is also not running on Wednesday like Shatabdi. It becomes too identical with Shatabadi. Is maintenance the reason for it?

Guess it will be a replacement to Shatabdi.

Ultimately everything will have Bharat and Vande in its name to signify uniformity

[sameer sultan]

Is common sense lacking in the scheduling officials at IR? They introduce a wonderful train like VB on a busy Chennai-BLR route but with very odd timings. I mean if you want to compete with flights operating between MAA-BLR and attract the IT crowd then have a convenient evening departure time from Bengaluru at 6PM with arrival at Chennai at 1030PM. Also consider having a halt at SBC in both directions. The days of operation are similar to the MYS Shatabdi, wont it be convenient to have a staggered operation so the travellers have the option of travelling in the fast trains on all days of the week?

[girishglg]

Excellent thread on the travel experience!

Just a few differing bytes-

Though the Vande Bharat is aspirational and has a certain novelty factor for now, it just seems like a quick populist push to bring out something flashy and sleek without much thought given to passenger conveniences.

The railways could have interchanged the timings between Shatabdi and Vande Bharat so that it would have benefitted at both ends, however understand that the both these trains have their home base in Chennai hence they would want their steeds to come back and rest in their home locations at the end of the day. At least they can transfer the Shatabdi to Mysore base instead of keeping everything to themselves right!

Secondly the stops of Vande Bharat should have been a key differentiator with one in Baiyappanhalli which would have given a lot of IT and office goers to quickly hop on to it and reach their destinations effortlessly. By just copying the Shatabdi they have not done any good for themselves.

Hope they learn quickly from this and do something that actually benefits the public instead of a popularity gimmick to win some brownie points.

[virgo129]

Thank you for the review @vigsom. Nice read.
I travelled on VandeBharat, SBC-MYS (2 hours) last Saturday. My opinion:
POSITIVES
- Superb acceleration and deceleration, better than MEMUs too
- Suspension is more stable and silent compared to decades-old Shatabdi rakes
- Bathrooms are 10x better than the old ones both in design and fittings
- Track noise insulation somewhat superior but not by much
NEGATIVES
- Seat pitch seems less than Shatabdi's (More like economy class in airlines)
- Seat width felt narrower, fabric looks delicate compared to old blue rexine
- Over priced for its value (On the MYS-SBC return I took a 3 tier AC seat at about the same price - Was far far more comfortable compared to the cramped experience of the VB. Of course apples-oranges, but relevant in my case)
- Fit & Finish were poor in many places. New LHB AC sleeper coaches have side berths sitting on plywood sheet spacers, and in similar vein the VB deploys hand-cut plastic in some roof sections. Not sure if that is an early production issue.

[ninjatalli]

There's this funny situation of several travelers referring to the VB train(s) as "Bullet trains". When a friend was quoting his recent trip from Bangalore to Mysore on the "Bullet" train, I corrected him saying the only Bullet train in India is still under works on the Mumbai - Ahmedabad route and the VB train(s) are nowhere close to an actual Bullet train, and are pretty much an alternative (/equal) to the existing Shatabdi trains.

His argument? The VB train completes the Bangalore to Mysore section with 10 mins to spare as compared to the Shatabdi and hence his belief of it being the "Bullet train"

This from a guy with a PHD from a global university. People can sometimes be really voluntarily ignorant!

[Arun_S]

Recently took a trip in Mysuru - Chennai, VB, boarded at KSR Junction.

The train looks stunning, people were flocking to take photos as the train, approached the platform.

There was mad rush to enter, as it stops only 5 minutes in KSR Junction. Authorities should consider increasing the stoppage timing to atleast 10 minutes.

The food was absolutely horrible and the service even poor. With no pantry car and the train stopping at only one place, it is really bad if you have small kids. If you are taking VB, better get your own food\snacks.

My personal opinion, If there is no Dynamic pricing I would take Shatabadi or even Brindavan Express

[bivision]

I always considered train travel as safest and most relaxing one, but our recent travel from KSR to Mysuru by Shatabdi express shattered that perception. I had used this mode of travel many times and always had very good experience.
Due to nearly overlapping timing with Vande Bharat (as discussed in this thread already) and allotting same platform (why on earth they did it?), Shatabdi express entered the platform 10 minutes delayed, and probably it didn't wait for the stipulated 5 minutes stoppage. We were group of 10 people with kids, and while we stared boarding the train, it started moving. We had to literally throw the kids into the train to board it. An elderly couple missed the train.
I wonder why they do not have the courtesy to check if everybody boarded before departure, when the train is already running late?
I will think many times before opting for train journey in future.
In retrospect, I was thinking that we should have pulled the chain, whether it is justified in the situation or not. However, in the anxiety to board the train, it didn't occur to us then.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

There's this funny situation of several travelers referring to the VB train(s) as "Bullet trains". ..

Okay, so this isn't that uncommon. Came across a few regulars between Chennai and Bangalore who find the Shatabdi more VFM than this new one. There's also another more informed bunch who believe that unless the MPS is increased significantly on various sections, the Shatabdi will remain the most VFM option.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

This from a guy with a PHD from a global university. People can sometimes be really voluntarily ignorant!

OT: A decorated expert in my org, with exposure to radio frequency, had believed that the Rs 2000 notes released in 2016 had "Nano GPS Chip". Difficult to reason with the voluntarily ignorant.

[DigitalOne]

Timings of the new Vande Bharat service on the Mysuru - Chennai - Mysuru route has been announced. The service will run till Bangalore's SMV terminus till 4-Apr. Once the maintenance facilities are ready in Mysuru by 4-Apr, the service will start and end at Mysuru.

Notable points:

- Stops at Mandya and KR Puram. KR Puram stop will benefit East Bangalore residents and purple line connection.

- Chennai to KR Puram in 3 hr 48 minutes .

- KR Puram to KSR-SBC takes 35 minutes

Elsewhere I had read that the Jolarpettai - Bangalore section will be upgraded to 130 KMPH within two months. Hopefully may result in more quicker travel.