Fake news: Railways fact-checks Trinamool MP alleging 50% hike in Vande Bharat costs

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale on Monday alleged that the Narendra Modi-led government increased the cost for manufacturing Vande Bharat sleeper trains by 50 per cent by revising the Rs 58,000 crore project this year. In response, the Ministry of Railways refuted Gokhale’s claims, asking the Rajya Sabha MP to “stop spreading misinformation and fake news.”
Taking to X, Gokhale stated, “A train that cost Rs 290 crore earlier will now cost Rs 436 crore. This is a train with only AC coaches that the poor cannot afford.”
He stated that the original contract was valued at Rs 58,000 crore for 200 trains, but the number of trains has since been reduced to 133. Taking a veiled dig at the Centre, the Rajya Sabha MP questioned who stands to benefit from the 50 per cent cost hike in the Vande Bharat contract.
In response to Gokhale’s claim, the Ministry of Railways clarified that the total cost of a train is calculated by multiplying the cost per coach by the number of coaches. For the sleeper project, they emphasised that the cost per coach is lower than all industry benchmarks, attributing this to the transparency maintained throughout the procurement process.
To accommodate the high demand for train travel, as per the Railway Ministry, the number of coaches per train has been increased from 16 to 24, while keeping the total number of coaches on the contract relatively constant.
Initially, the contract covered 200 trains with 16 coaches each, totalling 3,200 coaches. The revised contract now includes 133 trains with 24 coaches each, amounting to 3,192 coaches, the Ministry stated.
Despite the apparent reduction in the number of trains, as per the Ministry, the total contract value has actually decreased due to economies of scale associated with longer trains.