The Railway Board (RB) has planned to increase the number of coaches on seven Vande Bharat Express trains operating on high passenger footfall routes. These routes include Mangaluru Central-Thiruvananthapuram Central, Secunderabad-Tirupati, Chennai Egmore-Tirunelveli, Madurai-Bengaluru Cantt, Deoghar-Varanasi, Howrah-Rourkela and Indore-Nagpur.
According to a tentative replacement plan, three Vande Bharat Express trains currently with 16 coaches will be upgraded to 20 coaches, while four trains with eight coaches will be upgraded to 16 coaches. Reportedly, 20-coach Vande Bharat trains are being prepared for launch, and one 16-coach train will be available for augmentation.
Furthermore, the Mangaluru Central–Thiruvananthapuram Central, Secunderabad–Tirupati and Chennai Egmore–Tirunelveli routes will be upgraded to 20 coaches, while the remaining four routes will see their trains extended from eight to 16 coaches.