In a major development, the country’s first Vande Bharat train sleeper coach maintenance facility is going to ready by mid-2026 in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur, a senior North Western Railway official said. According to news agency PTI, Amit Swamy, North Western Railway's Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer, said that the state-of-the-art facility at Bhagat Ki Kothi Railway Station will incur a budgetary allocation of Rs 360 crore.
First phase to be ready 2026
The first phase of the maintenance and workshop depot, which encompasses a 600-meter track facility in order to maintain 24 sleeper coaches of Vande Bharat trains, is slated to be ready by June 2026.
The second phase, which includes a 178-meter track, will have a workshop and simulator facility. It will be completed by June 2027.
While the first phase will cost Rs 167 crore, the second phase will have an allocation of Rs 195 crore. The project, being executed by the North Western Railway with Kinet Railway Solution and Railway Vikas Nigam Limited, will only be focused on maintaining sleeper coaches of Vande Bharat.
In a statement, Swamy said, “The depot will be capable of inspecting and maintaining three trains at the same time. The workshop in the depot will have advanced machinery for lifting entire train rakes, transferring bogies using a drop pit table, and wheel-turning systems that will ensure uninterrupted maintenance of the Vande Bharat trains.”
4 four such facilities
Notably, there will be four more such facilities that are being established at Thanisandra railway station (Bengaluru), Bijwasan railway station (Delhi), Wadi Bandar (Mumbai), and Anand Vihar (Delhi).
The facility being developed in Jodhpur will be able to undertake maintenance of eight to nine trains daily. Swamy stressed that Vande Bharat coaches must be brought to one of these maintenance facilities every four days or after completing 3,500 km of travel, whichever comes first.
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