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The Vande Bharat sleeper train, planned for long and medium-distance journeys, has achieved a peak speed of 180 kilometres per hour during multiple trials in the last three days, the Ministry of Railways said on Friday.
The trials will continue till January-end, before world-class travel is made available to people across the country, it added.
In a post on X, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw shared a video of a successful trial in Kota division. "Vande Bharat (Sleeper) testing at 180 kmph," he wrote on the micro-blogging site.
The 32-second video shows a full glass of water adjacent to a mobile on a plain surface inside a Vande Bharat sleeper train. The static water level can be seen in the video as the train achieves near constant peak speed of 180 kilometre per hour.
The trials were held from December 31 to January 2.
According to the ministry, the train reached a peak speed of 180 km/hour during a 30-km long run between Kota and Laban in Bundi district of Rajasthan on Thursday. A day earlier, in a 40 km-long trial run between Rohal Khurd to Kota, Vande Bharat sleeper train touched the peak of 180 km per hour.
Vande Bharat (Sleeper) testing at 180 kmph pic.twitter.com/ruVaR3NNOt
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 2, 2025
"On the same day, peaks of 170 km/hr & 160km/hr were achieved on Kota-Nagda & Rohal Khurd-Chau Mahla sections. These trials will continue for the month of January under the supervision of RDSO, Lucknow," the ministry said.
Once these trials are over, the train will be evaluated by the Railway Safety Commissioner at the maximum speed. Only after passing the final stage, Vande Bharat trains will be officially certified and handed over to Indian Railways for induction and regular service, the ministry added.
"With these successful trials, rail commuters can hope for a world-class travel experience in long-distance travel like Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Delhi to Mumbai, Howrah to Chennai and many other routes also," the ministry said.
Earlier, Mr Vaishnaw said that Vande Bharat sleeper trains are equipped with modern features and passenger amenities.
He highlighted some of these, such as the automatic train protection system Kavach, latest fire-safety standards compliance, crashworthy and jerk-free semi-permanent couplers and anti-climbers, a regenerative braking system for energy efficiency and, higher average speed with quick deceleration and acceleration.