Vande Bharat, Team ICF and Me

 

Train 18/Vande Bharat express is constantly in news now-a-days, what with the PM Narendra Modi ji himself launching every train and the train running over cattle frequently. Thanks to our countrymen, considerable acclaim and indeed some abuse came, and is coming, my way. One of my TEDx talk of September 2019 at Hyderabad went viral (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvDLYZ1tm7A&t=24s) and many of my interviews started doing the rounds again on social media. Facebook posts summarising the story of self as the leader and the Chennai team as the creator of the train, originally written in Hindi, were shared very widely, including in English and many regional languages. (type ‘आज से कोई 6 साल पुरानी बात है’ or ‘It is some 6 years old thing from today’ (sic) in Facebook search and you can see more than 100 of them with varying level of readership from a few hundreds to as many as 50 K. I neither know who originated the post nor am I tech-savvy enough to find that out so I thank them all for the generous words. LinkedIn and other similar platforms also have had had many posts in the past month, roughly on the same lines.

 

The one which overwhelmed me was from @Srinivasan Radhakrishnan on LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6997222734304854016/

 

The appreciation I got in these post from people totally unknown to me was so gratifying that I, at a loss for thankful words to express how I felt, have to take succour from my great uncle, the bard, and borrow what he had Sebastian saying to Antonio in Twelfth Night, “My kind Antonio, I can no other answer make but thanks, And thanks, and ever thanks.”

 

The spirit of the stories was authentic. There were minor errors which I need to correct. But moreover I must make an attempt to put the things in right perspective for the abusers, detractors, depreciators. Why? Because even my uncle, the great Ghalib had was exasperated enough to say,

 

Ham kahāñ ke daanā the kis hunar meñ yaktā the

be-sabab huā Ghālib dushman āsmāñ apnā

(daanā: knowledgeable, yaktā: skilful. When was I so learned and which skill was I so accomplished in? Without reason, heavens have become my foe!)

 

This post will, therefore, cover three aspect: the story in brief, correction of the harmless inaccuracies which have cropped up in the said posts and then an attempt to win over the ill-informed. As for the incorrigible venomous cynics and vituperative sceptics, let them go boil their heads, who cares? 😀

 

The story in brief, first. A sterling team of brilliant engineers from Chennai’s Integral Coach factory (ICF) of Indian Railways (IR) and allied industry came together with great synergy and conceptualized Train 18/Vande Bharat express in 2018; subsequently, a near world-class train, designed and manufactured entirely in India in just 18 months at a fraction of what it would take both in terms of time and cost anywhere across the globe. I was the fortunate leader of this team. Nobody had asked me to do it and I had to struggle to get the sanction from Railway Board; it was late AK Mital, the then Chairman, who somehow agreed to favour us with a sanction of 2 trains. This train caught the imagination of the countrymen because they saw it as a symbol of resurgent and aspirational India, paving the way for a whole new ballgame in rail transportation.

 

After the two rakes which were turned out in 2019, venal and corrupt vilification of the train and the team started and there was a long lull of inaction; we will not go into that negativity as we knew that no wrong had been done and no mud would eventually stick. Precious time was wasted due to these machinations even as the two trains continued giving trouble-free service. The vibes today are great and there have been various announcements: by the PM on 15^th August 21 that 75 such trains would ply across the country in 75 weeks and in the budget by Finance Minister that 400 Vande Bharat trains would be manufactured in coming three years and so on. A common refrain in railway and industrial circles has been that the government had overreached. I viewed it differently; it may not be possible in next four years but it is doable in the next six/seven years. So while 75 trains by August 15 2023 or 400 in three years since Budget announcement are very long shots, what is important is that there is positive agitation and energy towards making more VB trains. While the third, fourth and fifth rakes have been turned out since August this year, ICF plans to turn out rakes at the rate of 3 to 4 per month from January 23 onwards. Similarly, the government has shown further resolve and huge tenders have been floated for complete Train 18 clones which, if finalized this year, should have good deliveries from the year 2026 onwards.

 

Second, a bit about harmless inaccuracies.

 

The idea of a semi-high-speed train did not germinate in 2015. It was lying as a wistful dream in my mind for decades and I am sure in many minds of the team which eventually created it. While departmental turf war prevented any work towards an indigenous design, import lobbies worked overtime to get such trains from abroad. Moreover, yes, I did ask for my last posting as General Manager of ICF, although I belong to Lucknow, it is incorrect to say that IR accommodates GMs in their home railway before retirement.

 

The Talgo story is one of pure and simple ineptitude and indecision. This train is good, rather unique, and obviously expensive. I had captured the imbroglio in my blog:

 

http://anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2021/06/talgo-and-indias-quest-for-modern-train.html

 

The bottom line is that Train 18 emerged out of the shambles of the Talgo project although we never fashioned it something that would compete with Talgo train.

 

Third, why do some people not see reason and go after me? The criticism centres around: 1) the train not being good enough as compared to European or Chines trains, 2) there was no novelty in the train, 3) where would so many trains be run in India particularly as the tracks are not upgraded and fenced with cattle menace being a reality. I would only say that these concerns are not misplaced but I never claimed it to be a world-class train; I always said that it was near world-class and we would certainly improve as we move forward. Those with time may like to go through these blogs in which I raised certain question which I found pertinent in the interest of furtherance of the project; I had also published articles on the same lines in some leading journals.

http://anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2022/10/cattle-may-not-be-safe-but-vande-bharat.html

http://anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-new-train-18vande-bharat-from.html

http://anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2022/08/indian-railways-and-vande-bharattrain-18.html

http://anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2022/07/indian-railways-round-up-part-1-train.html

Some important issues which I have been raising were covered in my recent article in Hindu BusinessLine:

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/speed-is-of-the-essence/article66121527.ece

With so much expectation having been built up about the acceleration/deceleration of the Version 2.0 train, is it wrong to ask why the average speed of the train is decreasing instead of improving? Please note that I have made an apple-to-apple comparison of the speed between the destinations on faster lines, ignoring the impact of such secondary origin/destination points like Katra, Una, Mysore etc:

 

The average speed over a section depends on the maximum permissible speed of the section, stoppages, terrain and extent of speed restrictions. Since Vande Bharat trains have superior acceleration and deceleration, it would be safe to assume a 10 to 15% saving over the average speed of the fastest train on the section. We must strive to meet this otherwise, as more and more trains are introduced, the euphoria related with the ‘speed’ of the train might vanish.

Pleasing external aesthetics, interiors and services may still attract travellers but these features alone would not justify higher fares of the train. So, the issue of unnecessary haste to introduce these trains through the ill-prepared ICF on an unprepared system! If ICF delivers 2/3 trains  per month, that would be totally acceptable and good for cautious introduction all over the country. Gradual serialization is certainly better for the quality and upkeep of the train; travellers have complained on social media about the quality of the latest one between Chennai and Mysore; I have received countless messages about the poor furnishing and seats on this train. 

 

It is also necessary to take up upgradation of infrastructure more meaningfully; for upgradation to 130 kmph maximum speed, the work required is mainly on the track to a level of Rajdhani standard track and fencing in zones prone to cattle ingress. As for upgradation to 160 kmph to realize the full potential of the train, many infra upgrades for track, signalling and OHE are stipulated but the most important one would be mandatory fencing; introduction of Kavach too would add good value.

 

Lastly, if the incorrigible cynics and sceptics still see my posts and interviews as the voice of a disgruntled man, I would prefer to be more ‘disgruntled’, speaking my mind than to be shackled in speaking only what pleases a handful of such specimens.

 

Vande Bharat has indeed emerged as a symbol of resurgent India and it is not about you, me or the team; all of us should work to advance the project meaningfully, instead of indulging in crass wrangling, and help sustain the ‘feel-good’ of the train.

…

PS: Those interested in the story in more detail may consider getting my book, My Train 18 Story: Sudhanshu Mani, Fifth edition available on Amazon, https://amzn.to/3caLDrQ  and if they prefer a kindle version, https://amzn.to/3bOeDFi

(I have no commercial interest in its sale)