Indian Railways will launch the country's first Vande Bharat Sleeper Express, and its inaugural run is likely to be from Lucknow to Mumbai. The new train has the potential to transform long-distance travel by reducing travel time between the two cities by up to two-thirds to just 10 hours from an existing 16–17 hours. The train shall consist of 20 coaches, including AC First, Second, and Third class compartments, and two SLR (Seating-cum-Luggage Rake) coaches, with a total seating capacity to carry around 1,200 passengers. The last schedule is at the approval stage, and preparation is underway for a launch in July.
The path for the first sleeper Vande Bharat will be from Lucknow to Mumbai via Hardoi, Shahjahanpur, Bareilly Junction, Rampur, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Hazrat Nizamuddin, and Agra to make the trip more comfortable for Uttar Pradesh and northern India passengers going to Mumbai. The train will operate four times a week, as the Tejas Express does, and will most likely offer a luxury trip experience with amenities including automatic doors, comfortable berths, WiFi, and advanced safety amenities such as the Kavach collision avoidance system. The Vande Bharat Sleeper is an extension of Indian Railways' broader process of modernization and follows the success of the chair car variant that has become popular on shorter journeys.
The sleeper variant is built to provide a quieter, smoother, and more comfortable overnight journey, improving the benchmark of speed and luxury in Indian train travel. With the rollout of the new service, the age-old issue of seat scarcity on the existing trains like the Bareilly-Lokmanya Tilak Express and Ramnagar-Bandra Express is expected to be resolved, offering passengers a faster and better option. It is another milestone achievement for Indian Railways after the maiden run of the first Vande Bharat Express when it commenced operations on the Delhi-Varanasi route in 2019.