Overview
- Railway Board set per‑km tariffs at ₹2.4 (3AC), ₹3.1 (2AC) and ₹3.8 (1AC) with GST extra, yielding Howrah–Kamakhya fares of ₹2,299, ₹2,970 and ₹3,640 respectively and minimum fares of ₹960, ₹1,240 and ₹1,520 for 400 km.
- Only confirmed berths will be issued with no RAC, waitlist or partially confirmed tickets, tickets will be sold digitally, and existing quotas apply with automatic lower‑berth allocation for eligible seniors and women; only fully reimbursable duty passes are valid.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to flag off the inaugural service on January 17 from Malda, with Railways indicating an expected time saving of about three hours on the route as some reports cite larger reductions.
- The 16‑coach trainset provides 823 berths across 11 3AC, 4 2AC and 1 First AC coaches and features Kavach ATP, automatic doors, upgraded berths and sanitation, with a 180 km/h design speed and 130 km/h operational cap on this corridor.
- Officials say eight more Vande Bharat Sleeper trains are planned within six months, taking the total to about 12 by year‑end as the model scales to longer overnight sectors.