Overview
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually inaugurate the sleeper service on January 17 for the Kamakhya Junction–Howrah corridor under the Northeast Frontier Railway zone.
- The first trainset fields 16 coaches with space for about 823 passengers, including 11 AC three‑tier, four AC two‑tier and one AC first‑class coach.
- Designed for up to 180 km/h, the sleeper includes automatic doors, CCTV‑backed central monitoring, accessible toilets, ladders for upper berths and first‑class private coupes.
- Indian Railways currently operates 164 Vande Bharat services across the network.
- Officials say a Vande Bharat 4.0 is in development for very high‑speed corridors with a reported target of up to 350 km/h around 2027 and plans to equip it with Kavach 5.0.