New Delhi: The Kasaragod to Trivandrum train is the best-performing Vande Bharat Express with an average occupancy of 183 per cent among the 23 pairs of such trains running across the Railway network, according to official data.
The Vande Bharat Express between Trivandrum and Kasaragod in Kerala, with an average occupancy of 176 per cent is the next best-performing train, followed by the Gandhinagar-Mumbai Central Vande Bharat Express with an average occupancy of 134 per cent.
Occupancy is calculated by the total number of passengers travelling in a train on a particular route, including those getting off and boarding it at intervening stations.
If a person has booked a ticket on a train from point A to point B, it is considered one booking. From point B, another passenger books the same seat to travel to point C, so the same seat has two bookings, an official said.
On February 15, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the first Vande Bharat Express between New Delhi and Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh which was manufactured indigenously at the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai.
So far, 46 Vande Bharat Express services have reached all rail-electrified states of the country. Encompassing a total of 24 states and Union Territories, the Vande Bharat Express fleet has been ever-growing owing to its time-saving feature, which saves an average of an hour in comparison to other trains.
With a maximum permissible speed of up to 160 kmph, it provides faster acceleration. The Vande Bharat Express is the fastest passenger train on the routes it is running on.
The trains with top occupancy include the Mumbai Central-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Express (129 per cent), Varanasi-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express (128 per cent), New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat Express (124 per cent), Dehradun-Amritsar Vande Bharat Express (105 per cent), Mumbai-Sholapur Vande Bharat Express (111 per cent), Sholapur-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express (104 per cent).
In the eastern region, the Howrah-Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express has an average occupancy of 108 per cent and on the return journey, it has recorded an occupancy of 103 per cent. The Patna-Ranchi Vande Bharat Express has an occupancy of 125 per cent, while on its return journey, it has an occupancy of 127 per cent.
Among the trains that need a leg up in occupancy is the Ajmer to Delhi Cantonment Vande Bharat Express (60 per cent) and the Delhi Cantonment to Ajmer train (83 per cent).
So far the train has made 2,140 trips, and 25,20,370 net passengers have boarded the Vande Bharat Express from April 1, 2022, to June 21, 2023.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2022, during her budget speech announced that 400 new-generation Vande Bharat trains with better energy efficiency and passenger riding experience will be developed and manufactured.
As of July 2022, a tender has been awarded for manufacturing 102 Vande Bharat trains and another tender has been floated for 200 Vande Bharat trains.
