Vande Bharat's Speed Bump: What's Slowing Down India's Bullet Train?

The average speed of Vande Bharat trains has come down from 84.48 kmph in 2020-21 to 76.25 kmph in 2023-24. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw credits the slowdown to continuous infrastructural development and geographical constraints. Trains running on challenging terrains, like the Konkan region, are subjected to speed curbs due to safety reasons, particularly during monsoons. Also, track conditions restrict the running speed of Vande Bharat trains to 130 kmph, even though they have the capability to run at 160 kmph on some specific routes such as Delhi-Agra. Improvement of track conditions is planned to allow higher speed running in the future.

 

Source: Economic Times, Times of India, Wikipedia