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| Railway Board flags safety concerns, grants conditional approval to RCF-made Vande Bharat chair car | | | Early Times Report
NEW DELHI, Oct 26: The Railway Board granted approval for the operation of the first 16-coach Vande Bharat chair car manufactured by Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, but has listed several crucial deficiencies and directed the concerned authorities to rectify them.
Officials said all Vande Bharat Chair Cars currently in operation have been manufactured by Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, and that this will be the first Vande Bharat chair car manufactured by RCF, Kapurthala, with an Alstom propulsion system.
"Though the Railway Board has granted approval for the operation of the train at 160 kmph, it cannot run beyond 130 kmph due to speed restrictions imposed by the Board across all rail networks," a senior zonal official said.
The board's written communication, addressed to the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), zonal railways, the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety (CCRS) and the Commissioners of Railway Safety (CRS), flagged several technical deficiencies, including poor functioning of the Driver Display Unit (DDU) touchscreen, concerns over the electrical fault tracing system and an unsecured protective cover for the fire extinguisher, among others.
Officials said the electrical system in the RCF-made Vande Bharat train could make fault detection difficult. Hence, it has asked RCF to rectify the issue.
"The MCB provided in Electrical Control Cabinets (ECC) are single pole instead of double pole provided in earlier versions of Vande Bharat chair car," the Board's letter dated October 23, 2026 said.
"This poses serious concerns for tracing the faults in case of any failure or malfunction. This shall be corrected in this rake at the earliest and all future rakes shall be turned out with double pole MCB," it added.
The board also observed that the MCBs inside the Vande Bharat train's Electrical Control Cabinets are not properly labelled to indicate which equipment each MCB controls. It asked RCF to provide proper identification labels.
"In simple terms, if the lighting system in a coach is not working and a technician opens the Electrical Control Cabinet to identify the fault, the problem may not be quickly identified if the MCBs are not clearly labelled," an official said.
The board also noted that the traction motor, an electric motor that converts electrical energy into mechanical power to rotate the train's wheels, is rated at 270 kW, while the corresponding ratings in trains manufactured by other suppliers are 210 kW for Medha and 225 kW for Siemens. The board has directed RDSO and RCF to examine whether this difference is technically justified. |
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