India’s first Vande Bharat Sleeper ushers in a new era of modern facilities, safety and comfort

At the Kamakhya Junction, the semi-high speed train Vande Bharat Sleeper lavishly decorated with marigold garlands stood at platform number two with a red carpet laid out for the inauguration ceremony. Kamakhya-Anand Vihar Express was on the other side.

Jharna Shil, 49, cut through the crowd as the automatic doors of the train started opening with a beeping sound. She first runs to see the statues of the toilets.

“It is a pride for Assam that such a fine train is starting from Guwahati. For a woman, safety is the biggest concern while travelling in the train. Most of the trains do not have clean toilets. But this one is so good. It has CCTV cameras as well. Currently, we take Saraighat express, which takes almost 16 hours 30 minutes to reach Kolkata. This train, we have heard, will take around 14 hours, which will save time,” said the woman, who came to see the train along with her neighbours from Maligaon.

Geetanjali Saha, who came in the group, said that local cuisines is the right step that the Railways have taken. “I got to know this from the news that Assamese and Bengali food will be served in this train. I don’t like the food in trains as it tastes like a machine has manufactured it. However, local cuisine is the right step,” she said, while clicking a selfie with the train.

As PM Modi waved the green flag at Malda, pressing the virtual launch button, almost 700 km away in Guwahati, a student of class six Anukriti Dasgupta hurried towards the window seat. She is among the 47 students of South Point Public School, Guwahati travelling in the inaugural train and does not want to miss any scene.

“I would always prefer a train instead of a flight. I like everything about the Railways. Train horns give a feeling of exciting departure. I get to see a lot of things — forests, rivers, mountains,” said the girl, smiling, who aspires to become a song writer and believes that train journeys will enrich her writings.

“I have many dreams, and one of them is going to Paris and travelling by train. I like Taylor Swift and her songs. I think she has traveled a lot by train,” said Dasgupta, as her friends laugh in chorus.

Ain Hazarika, an 11th class student, points out that the Brahmaputra river appears much larger from the train as it crosses over the bridge. “Train travel is sometimes very scary. Last month, I had to travel by Brahmaputra Express, and found Bimal paan masala packets stacked on the upper berth. There was paan masala spit at places. Unless one travels by Rajdhani Express, we see many problems in trains. Ofcourse, this one appears to be the best. I feel a sense of security. But I am afraid that it might get dirty soon,” said Hazarika, a shooter who wants to be a journalist.

She added that the Railways should give concessions to sports students. “If people really want to know about India, they should come to the North-east. And Vande Bharat Sleeper train can be the best carrier of this assimilation. It is very painful when we hear the news about how students from the North-east are treated in New Delhi and North India. It is hyper nationalism. They think that we are not Indian enough,” said the student as she deboard the train at Rangiya station.

A student of class eight Aarna wrote in her essay that Vande Bharat Sleeper is a prime example of Atma Nirbhar Bharat. “I might study abroad, but I will come back and work here. We want to become the best citizens of India,” she said.

Saptranjan Mandal feels that his 26 years of dedicated service in the Railways have finally borne fruit, as he is chosen to be the loco pilot of the Vande Bharat Sleeper from Guwahati.

“I feel proud that the Railways gave me this opportunity. For a loco pilot, the key to driving trains is to be patient. It has a very advanced system and is easy to pilot,” said Mandal, who has been running the new Jalpaiguri-Guwahati Vande Bharat Chair car for the last two years.

“This train has an acceleration of 0.4-0.8 seconds. It can quickly reach 100 kmph speed and has 50 per cent motor coaches, which helps to achieve quick acceleration. We took training for seven days, completed coaching competency, and then we were selected to drive this train,” said CK Mishra, the assistant loco pilot.

But the fare of the train will remain beyond the reach of many people. “The train is beautiful, but it will remain a dream for many. Even after saving for an entire year, I would be able to travel with my family only once,” said Arvind Prasad, who has worked in the Railways for 22 years in various roles, including in the maintenance department.

“These modern coaches have eased the maintenance works. Earlier it used to take over 12 hours, now we can do it in 6-8 hours. The toilets have really improved,” said Prasad.

The train will cover the distance of 972 km between the two cities of Guwahati and Kolkata in 14 hours. The train is scheduled to depart from Kamakhya at 6.15 pm, and reach Howrah at 08.15 am the next morning. During the return trip, it will depart from Howrah at 6.20 pm, and reach Kamakhya at 08:20 am the next day.

“This is the Rajdhani moment for the Railways, but in a new era. The Sleeper train travel will be changed completely. It was a watershed moment for the Railways when the Rajdhani Express was introduced in 1969 which set a high standard in terms of safe and comfortable travel. Vande Bharat Sleeper will go one step ahead and become affordable for the middle class,” said a senior official of the Ministry of Railways.

Manufactured by BEML, two Vande Bharat Sleeper rakes are being equipped with modern facilities such as hot water in 1AC, GPS based LED display and announcement, sensor based inter communication doors, modular pantry service and line space in coach. Officials said there will be eight more such trains produced by this year.

The train is built with Kavach — the automatic train protection system — and emergency talk-back system. It has the disinfectant technology for sanitation, a driver cab with advanced controls and aerodynamic exterior, and automatic exterior passenger doors.

A third AC journey from Howrah and Guwahati (Kamakhya) on the Vande Bharat Sleeper Express will cost Rs 2,299. Further, a passenger would have to shell out Rs 2,970 for second AC and Rs 3,640 for the first AC.

The train arrives at the Howrah station, some people deboard it, while many jump inside to see the coaches.