Vande Bharat Sleeper Train: Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged off six Vande Bharat Express trains from Tatanagar Junction railway station a few days ago.
There are rumors that two new Vande Bharat trains could arrive in Rajasthan in November. The government is constantly making efforts to strengthen the railway system in Rajasthan.
On the other hand, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Saket Gokhale has made some serious allegations regarding the price of Vande Bharat sleeper train.
The MP says that the Modi government has revised the contract of Rs 58 thousand crores for making Vande Bharat sleeper train. As a result, the cost of one train has increased from Rs 290 crore to Rs 436 crore.
Saket Gokhale recently posted on the ‘X’ handle about Vande Bharat Sleeper. It said “Modi government has revised the contract of ₹58,000 crore to build Vande Bharat sleeper train, the train which was earlier costing Rs 290 crore will now cost Rs 436 crore. This is a train with only AC coaches, poor people cannot sit in it. Who is benefiting from this 50% cost increase in Vande Bharat contract?”
Railways responded
Indian Railways responded to this and said that this is “misinformation” and “fake news”. The Railway Ministry clarified that the cost increase resulted from an increase in the train’s coach from 16 to 24 coaches, without affecting the total number of coaches in the contract. The Railway Ministry explains that they made this adjustment to meet the growing demand for train travel throughout the country.
Indian Railways had written that – In sleeper project, cost per coach is lower than all benchmarks because of the transparency in process.
We have increased the number of coaches from 16 to 24 to make longer trains, keeping the total number of coaches in contract constant. This is due to a high demand for train travel.
Earlier: 200 trains
We are making record number non AC coaches (12000) looking at the high demand for railway travel.
Saket Gokhale said – Last week, contract was suddenly changed New contract is ₹58,000 crores for just 133 trains with 24 instead of 16 coaches Now that’s ₹195 crores (manufacture) & ₹240 crores (maintenance) per train NEW COST: ₹435 crores per train