Vande Bharat sleeper coach maintenance facility to be ready by June

Panaji: The country’s first Vande Bharat train sleeper coach maintenance facility will be ready by mid-2026 at Jodhpur in Rajasthan, according to a senior North Western Railway official.

North Western Railway's Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer Major Amit Swamy said the state-of-the-art facility at Bhagat Ki Kothi Railway station is being constructed at a cost of Rs 360 crore.

The first phase of the maintenance and workshop depot, which includes a 600-metre track facility to maintain 24 sleeper coaches of Vande Bharat trains, will be ready by June, 2026.

The second phase, with a 178-metre track, including a workshop and simulator facility, will be completed by June, 2027, he told reporters.

The facility will also house a dedicated wheel rack system and a specialised testing laboratory, including latest simulators for training and evaluating high-tech equipment, highlighting Indian Railways' focus on precision, safety and performance, he said.

The first phase will cost Rs 167 crore and the second phase Rs 195 crore, he said. The project is being executed by the North Western Railway with Railway Vikas Nigam Limited and Kinet Railway Solution, a joint venture between Russia and India, as technology partners.

This facility will maintain only the sleeper coaches of Vande Bharat which are being introduced shortly, Swamy said, adding that the project includes a three-tier inspection facility for Vande Bharat coaches.

“The depot will be capable of inspecting and maintaining three trains at the same time. The workshop in the depot will have advanced machinery for lifting entire train rakes, transferring bogies using a drop pit table, and wheel-turning systems that will ensure uninterrupted maintenance of the Vande Bharat trains,” he said.

Four more such facilities are being established at Bijwasan railway station (Delhi), Thanisandra railway station (Bengaluru), Anand Vihar (Delhi) and Wadi Bandar (Mumbai).

Swamy said that the facility in Jodhpur will have the capacity for maintenance of eight to nine trains daily.

Vande Bharat coaches will have to be brought for maintenance at any of these facilities after four days or after travelling 3,500 km, he said.