Can Vande Bharat be a model for the world? India’s bet on affordable modern rail

When India flagged off its first Vande Bharat Express in February 2019, sceptics dismissed it as a flashy upgrade in a system weighed down by chronic underinvestment and ageing infrastructure. Seven years later, that scepticism has largely faded. With 164 Vande Bharat services operational across India, over 7.5 crore passengers carried, and occupancy consistently crossing 100 per cent, India’s semi-high-speed experiment has moved from novelty to mainstream.

The bigger question now is not whether Vande Bharat works in India, but whether it offers a replicable template for the rest of the world, particularly for developing and middle-income economies that want modern rail without the eye-watering costs of European or Japanese high-speed systems.

A different rail modernisation playbook

Globally, rail modernisation has followed two dominant models. Rich economies have invested heavily in dedicated high-speed corridors, such as France’s TGV, Japan’s Shinkansen (bullet train), China’s CRH, often costing $20-40 million per km. Poorer countries, constrained by fiscal capacity, have largely remained stuck with slow, unreliable conventional rail.

India has charted a third path. Instead of waiting decades to build entirely new corridors, it has deployed indigenously built, self-propelled semi-high-speed trainsets that can run on upgraded existing tracks.

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Vande Bharat’s design speed of 160-180 kmph (and future readiness for higher speeds) allows meaningful journey-time reductions without the prohibitive capital costs of greenfield high-speed rail.

On several routes, journey times have fallen by up to 45 per cent. The New Delhi-Varanasi run, once stretching well over 12 hours on conventional services, is now completed in about eight hours.

Cost, localisation, and the “middle-class rail” idea

Affordability sits at the core of the Vande Bharat proposition. Unlike luxury high-speed trains priced for elites, Vande Bharat is pitched squarely at India’s aspirational middle class. Fares are higher than ordinary expresses but remain well below airline tickets on comparable routes.

This pricing discipline is possible largely because of localisation. Around 90 per cent of Vande Bharat components are sourced domestically, with manufacturing anchored at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai.

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For countries in South Asia, Africa, Latin America, and parts of Southeast Asia- regions with dense populations but limited fiscal space, this approach is instructive. Modern rail does not have to mean billion-dollar vanity projects; it can mean incremental, scalable upgrades that deliver visible gains quickly.

Technology without gold-plating

Vande Bharat is often described as “semi-high-speed”, but its real strength lies in systems integration rather than raw speed. Features such as regenerative braking, modern suspension, automatic plug doors, GPS-based passenger information systems, and bio-vacuum toilets have upgraded Indian passengers’ experience.

Crucially, safety has been embedded through Kavach, India’s indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System. Kavach automatically prevents collisions, overspeeding, and signal-passing at danger, a feature many developing rail networks still lack.

This balance, modern technology without excessive “gold-plating”, is what makes Vande Bharat potentially exportable.

Demand signals the world cannot ignore

The strongest endorsement of Vande Bharat comes from passengers themselves. Occupancy averaged 102.01 per cent in 2024-25 and rose further to 105.03 per cent in 2025–26 (till June). Such numbers are rare even for established premium services globally.

The takeaway is clear: there is latent demand for faster, cleaner, and more reliable rail beyond megacities. Vande Bharat services now link Tier-2 and Tier-3 Indian cities, integrating regional economies and reducing dependence on congested roads and short-haul flights.

This has wider economic implications. Rail-led connectivity lowers logistics costs, improves labour mobility, and supports regional development, outcomes that many developing countries desperately seek but struggle to finance.

Can it travel abroad?

Whether Vande Bharat can become a global model depends on two factors: adaptability and credibility. On adaptability, the signs are promising. Many rail networks across Asia and Africa share characteristics with India’s: mixed traffic, ageing tracks, and limited budgets. A trainset designed to deliver speed and comfort on such networks has obvious appeal.

On credibility, India is building a strong case. The roadmap to 800 trainsets by 2030 and 4,500 by 2047 signals confidence in both manufacturing capacity and operational sustainability. Export ambitions tied to future Vande Bharat 4.0 models, with enhanced comfort and safety systems, further reinforce the narrative.

Still, challenges remain. Track quality, signalling, and maintenance standards vary widely across countries.