[handsofsteel]

I booked a journey by Vande Bharat from Allahabad to New Delhi in October this year paying the sizeable premium for an EC over say a 2A in competing trains for two reasons, a desire to experience the best that IR has to offer and to reach on the same night so as to be able to attend work the next day. On the day of the journey, a Tejas pulled in at the scheduled time with the train number of the Vande Bharat. With broken recliners, broken fold-out tables on the seats ahead of us, it was a pitiful experience. To compound things further, there was a group of 35-40 passengers from Benares adamant on singing bhajans complete with small musical instruments, in a loud voice. Requests to the Passengers, TT/RPF onboard etc to shut them down or at least change my seat went unheeded. The RPF personnel had the temerity to ask me to enjoy the holy atmosphere. Travelling in that coach for 8 hrs resulted in a splitting headache.
Protests with the TT regarding the switching of trains resulted in him pointing out that IR had sent a SMS to all passengers two hours before stating that due to operational reasons, a Tejas was being operated that day and those unwilling may kindly cancel their reservations. In this day and age when text messages have lost their relevance, this was a very shoddy way of communicating at the 11th hour. It was basically take it or leave it. To make matters worse, the train reached New Delhi 90 mins late, well after the metro shutdown, leaving everyone at the mercy of the fleecing auto/taxi drivers. And no, there was no word regarding refund of the ‘Vande Bharat’ premium despite a couple of mails. It was a horrid experience.
Never again!

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

And no, there was no word regarding refund of the ‘Vande Bharat’ premium despite a couple of mails. It was a horrid experience.
Never again!

I think the time is ripe for private passenger trains. Cant expect IR to continue this burden. A few private companies and new rolling stock will bring the sparkle back in the railway system. IR should be a AAI like entity, and government should run a rail equivalent of a sarkari airline as it may still have to undertake duties for certain regions, population segments. But eventually even model that should go. Lets hope it happens soon.

[Small Bot]

Originally Posted by Small Bot

I'm taking the Vande Bharat tomorrow between Chennai and Bangalore. Will drop in my observations later.

So here are a few observations in addition to what OP had made. These are from the 20607 Vande Bharat Express journey this morning, from Chennai Central to KSR Bangalore. I've only restricted this list to what was not already covered.

The cockpit seems like a great place to be in.


The seating area starts soon after the cockpit ends.


There is an additional step that helps you get on. While this was a little muddy due to the recent rains, I guarantee that this is going to be mighty useful to older passengers with knee issues.


Usually the food gets loaded in Katpadi Junction. Not in Vande Bharat. I saw steaming hot idlies and vadas and sambhar being packed into these deep hot cases in Chennai Central at 5:40 AM, to be served moderately warm at 7:30 AM.


This is a different angle of the connector, mainly to show how quickly you can walk into the next coach.


Bottle holder + leg space + footpegs. This had more space than the Shatabdi. Or for that matter, it had more space than the emergency window seats on any budget airline. My knee had around 1/2 foot space to spare, and I'm 189 cms and 110 kilos. Long dudes and dudettes can fit in easily, but the seats themselves were not that wide.


The knob to hold the folding tray is industrial quality. By which I mean, it is quite strong. Not quite the toughness of the G-Shock that snuck into the pic, but would last many years.

[Ton Ami]

First thing that IR needs to look into is to raise the height of the platforms for step free movement between train coaches and the platform. It will be such a blessing for sick and old people.

The second thing is to have food
option onboard, from two contractors. This will create a healthy competition and a win win situation for all.

[Dieseltuned]

The MMCT Gandhinagar VB has no stoppages in the suburbs especially Borivali. Remember even the mighty 12951/52 Rajdhani stops at Borivali. Also, it does not have a stop in a very important industrial town of Bharuch (which is served by 12953/54 AK Rajdhani). I dont know why they decided to do away with these 2 stoppages considering that they offer a large chunk of passangers on both the directions for the Shatabdi.

My thought was to run this VB not on the heels of the Shatabdi but in the reverse direction starting from ADI/Gandhi nagar in the morning and if this is not possible than at least either the Shatabdi OR the VB should be made operational on a Sunday. At the moment there is no Shatabdi or VB running on Sunday creating a huge dilemma to people wanting to return to work after a weekend to either ADI/Gandhi nagar / Mumbai.



Regards
Diesel

[porsche_guy]

Originally Posted by Rolling_Stock

Good write-up.

The train system (brake & propulsion) was designed to meet a maximum JERK rate of 0.7 m/s³ under normal operating conditions.

Compared to Rajdhani/Shatabdi trains, did you find the jerk characteristics to be negligible, especially under <10kmph to standstill conditions ?

Cheers !!

Certainly the jerks have reduced to almost nil. One does not easily notice the train stopping or starting off. This smooth transition is also aided by the very brisk acceleration as you know. It's truly something that must be felt to be believed.

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

The MMCT Gandhinagar VB has no stoppages in the suburbs especially Borivali. Remember even the mighty 12951/52 Rajdhani stops at Borivali. Also, it does not have a stop in a very important industrial town of Bharuch (which is served by 12953/54 AK Rajdhani). I dont know why they decided to do away with these 2 stoppages considering that they offer a large chunk of passangers on both the directions for the Shatabdi.

Wholeheartedly agree with you on this. I'm sure they will add a 2 minute halt at Borivali few months down the line like they did for Vapi in October. My theory for why it doesn't stop at Bharuch is that with the image that IR wants to portray, the train needs to really cut down it's travel time. The current "scheduled" time for the BRC-MMCT sector is 4hrs 19min which is a lot as it is. And this is not including the congestion that is inevitable on this route. I can't wait for the tracks to be upgraded and experience the VB at its top speed of 180Kmph. It will seriously cut down travel time and rival flying.

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

My thought was to run this VB not on the heels of the Shatabdi but in the reverse direction starting from ADI/Gandhi nagar in the morning and if this is not possible than at least either the Shatabdi OR the VB should be made operational on a Sunday. At the moment there is no Shatabdi or VB running on Sunday creating a huge dilemma to people wanting to return to work after a weekend to either ADI/Gandhi nagar / Mumbai.

As per what I've read, this was to be the case initially, however IRCTC had protested this since it will clash with the timings of 82901/02 Tejas Express. Hence they were moved to the current slot.

Honestly, the VB is a replacement for the Shatabdi and I expect these rakes to fully take over in a couple of years or so. Upgradation of tracks, sorting out congestion and preventing the frequent cattle incidents will go a long way to make this a true world-class experience.

[silverado]

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

The MMCT Gandhinagar VB has no stoppages in the suburbs especially Borivali.

Diesel

Just took one to Baroda, and now there is halt at Borivali. It starts at 6am and reaches baroda by 10.15.

Everything is as expected as mentioned by everyone else here. The real issue for me was not being able to sleep at peace. They serve you tea at 7, and then around 8.15-8.30 you get breakfast.

Service is decent, but due to this there is a lot of movement and if you get aisle seat good luck to your sleep and peace.