'Why Is Indian Railways Not Keeping Its Promise?': Ex-Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai Questions Government Over Vande Bharat Promises

The Vande Bharat train service has been the cornerstone of the much-publicised 'transition' of the Indian Railways for the past half a decade, especially since the inauguration of the first-ever Vande Bharat service in 2019.

Vande Bharat Slowing Down?

The train services have been touted as the modern face of the country's transportation infrastructure. One of the key USPs, apart from its appearance, has been the promise of 'Speed'. This tranche of services has been touted by the Indian Railways as path-breaking in terms of the speed at which the trains will run safely.

However, some reports now claim that the average speed of these services are going down. The trains were positioned as the 'High Speed' trains, with the capacity of clocking 160 kmph.

As per an Indian Express (Financial Express) report, the ambition of sacling the maximum speed of 160 kmph has not taken off, as it continues to hover around the 130 kmph mark.

Average Speed Drops

According to an RTI filed with the Railway Ministry, the average speed has taken a hit. Not only has the 'high speed' not been attained, but the Vande Bharat trains have seen their speed decrease over the past few years. The average speed has dropped from 84.48 kmph in 2020-21 to 76.25 kmph in 2023-24.

Mohandas Pai Raises Questions

Citing this report, a former Infosys executive and vocal voice in the India Inc. paradigm, Mohandas Pai, raised questions on the matter. He took to his personal X account to air his grievances.

Pai, citing the report, took to his X account and said, "why is IR not keeping its promise of faster, safer travel? ⁦@AshwiniVaishnaw @narendramodi".

Pai even tagged Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishanaw and the prime minister, Narendra Modi.

Netizens React

Responding to this post, some netizens reacted and one user said, "Sir, I think the article is comparing apples to oranges. The first few VBe were introduced in the 130 kmph stretches. The new VB are introduced in the region of 90/110 kmph max limit. Obviously, avg speed will drop."

Another user noted, "just like roads you built the faster cars before trying to build the speed ways...here we have the trains but not the tracks or safety equipment."