New Delhi. Rajdhani Express was introduced in 1969 and Shatabdi Express was introduced in 1988. In recent decades most of the coaches of these two premium trains has been changed to LBH coach but the trains have largely remained the same.
Almost half of Indians have been born after 1988. Will the young generation like to drive a car that was introduced in 1988 with some minor upgrades? The answer is straight NO. Semi-high-speed trains like Vande Bharat trains should have been introduced at least 20-25 years ago and we are very late in this. The problem is that the track remains the same and Vande Bharat (which has now become a premium short-distance train replacing Shatabdi Express) does offer a minor time advantage over existing Shatabdi trains. But the Vande Bharat trains offer more ammonites and comfort to passengers and its coaches are much more modern than Shatabdi trains. In addition, Vande Bharat trains are being run in non-Shatabdi sectors also. In the future, Vande Bharat trains may have sleeper coaches and it may replace Rajdhani Express and become the premium long-distance train. And in the coming years/decades, the existing railway tracks will be with newer tracks, and then Vande Bharat would realize its true potential.
The middle class in India has expanded and they have enough money to commute through the relatively costly Vande Bharat Express. India has huge potential to run high-speed and semi-high-speed trains. Yes, Indian Railways has many problems and issues but it doesn't mean that the future planning should be stooped. Indian Railways has improved a lot in the last decade but this is just a start. You can't take 1960s standard railways to 2020s railways in just a few years and it will take time. Therefore I welcome the introduction of Vande Bharat Express. The problem with Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains was that there were very few such trains. But government has a plan to introduce 400 Vande Bharat trains in the coming years and this will be a game changer for Indian Railways.
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