Modi Flags Off India's Second Vande Bharat Sleeper Train, Delhi to Varanasi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Kashi-Delhi Vande Bharat sleeper train on Saturday, Oct. 31. It is India's second Vande Bharat sleeper service. The first, between Howrah and Guwahati, began running in January 2026.

The train gives the Delhi-Varanasi corridor a new overnight option via Prayagraj and Kanpur Central. Listed stops are Prayagraj Junction, Kanpur Central, Aligarh Junction and Ghaziabad Junction.

The schedule

Train No. 27421 leaves Varanasi Junction at 8:50 pm and reaches New Delhi at 6:10 am. The return run is scheduled to leave New Delhi at 9:40 pm. The service runs six days a week, with no service on Fridays.

Two different arrival times, 6:45 am and 7:10 am, have been published for the Delhi-to-Varanasi leg. Passengers should confirm the correct one through Indian Railways' official booking system. Bookings opened Oct. 27.

Modi posted on X that it was "a historic day for those traveling by rail between Delhi and Kashi." He said the train, "equipped with modern amenities and a state-of-the-art safety system," would save time and improve the experience of travellers.

The train is expected to serve pilgrims heading to the Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Sangam at Prayagraj, along with tourists, students and business travellers. For some of them, an overnight berth could replace a hotel night.

More trains on the drawing board

The Railway Board has also approved more Vande Bharat services, according to media reports. One is a chair car train between Yeswantpur and Madgaon in Goa, numbered 26655/26656. It would run six days a week through Mangaluru Junction and the Western Ghats, leaving Yeswantpur at 7:35 am and reaching Goa at 8:55 pm. Two rakes are assigned.

Moneycontrol reported that the existing Mangaluru Central-Madgaon Vande Bharat will be withdrawn because of low passenger patronage. The launch date and fares for the replacement service have not been announced.

The Board has also sanctioned a Bengaluru-Mumbai sleeper via Kalaburagi, with stops at Anantapur, Guntakal, Raichur, Yadgir, Kalaburagi, Solapur, Pune and Kalyan. Its journey time is put at about 16 hours. Existing trains on that route take between 22 and more than 24 hours. Two trainsets are planned.

Stations

The Amrit Bharat Station Scheme is the most visible piece of the modernisation push. The Ministry of Railways said 1,337 stations had been identified for redevelopment by December 2025, with work finished at 155 of them at that point.

The scheme covers station buildings, waiting halls, toilets, seating, drinking water, platforms, foot overbridges, lifts, escalators and passenger information systems. It also includes disability access and local-product stalls under the One Station One Product initiative.

That is roughly 12 percent complete as of the last figure the ministry gave. An updated count for 2026 was not part of Saturday's announcements.

The gap passengers notice

New trains and renovated terminals are the part of modernisation that photographs well. Whether toilets are clean, water is safe, coaches are maintained and trains run on time is what most riders live with daily.

Government audits continue to flag gaps in basic passenger amenities, onboard cleanliness and maintenance, even as the Railways invests heavily in modernisation. A premium sleeper train does not by itself answer that.

The ministry's position, reflected in the scheme's design, is that redevelopment is meant to be more than cosmetic. It is supposed to match facilities to the traffic each station handles: crowd management at big terminals, and water, seating and safe platform crossings at small ones.

Booking system overhaul

Separately, Indian Railways is replacing the 10-digit PNR structure used since 1986. New numbers will begin with odd digits (1, 3, 5 or 7) and will no longer identify the zone or booking centre. The change is part of a move to a cloud-based passenger reservation system run by the Centre for Railway Information Systems.

Railways says the upgrade should mean faster Tatkal bookings, fewer system crashes, more accurate waiting-list predictions and better tools to catch fraudulent bookings. A pilot is active on 1,230 trains. Network-wide rollout is scheduled for the third week of December 2026, and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has directed officials to keep the transition smooth.

Existing tickets stay valid. Passengers who want to change dates, names or classes after their train moves to the new series may have to cancel and rebook.