Indian Railways (IR) commenced the second phase of the trial run for the Vande Bharat Sleeper train on the Delhi-Mumbai stretch under the Kota division of the West Central Railway (WCR) on December 31, 2024. On January 1, 2025, testing was conducted at a speed of 170 km per hour (kmph) on the Kota-Nagda stretch and at 160 kmph on the Rohal Khurd-Chau Mahla section. Also, the train operated at a speed of 180 kmph on the 40 km long Rohal Khurd and Kota stretch. On January 2, 2025, the trial was conducted with simulating passenger load on the 30 km long stretch between Kota and Laban at a speed of 180 kmph. Previously, IR completed the first phase of the trial run on the Jhansi division of the North Central Railway (NCR) on December 30, 2024.
Besides, the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) is assessing the train on various parameters, including both loaded and unloaded trials. A detailed report will be sent to the Ministry of Railways (MoR) and the Railway Board (RB) after the completion of the trials.