Pune: Passengers eagerly awaiting the introduction of sleeper coaches on the Vande Bharat Express will have to wait a few more months.

The Marathwada Coach Factory in Latur is set to manufacture 1,920 sleeper coaches for the Vande Bharat Express, but the production process is still in its early stages.

The Railway Board has signed a contract with the private company 'Kinet' for this project. Under the agreement, 'Kinet' will be responsible for manufacturing all the coaches within seven years and maintaining them for the next 35 years.

The project was inaugurated recently, and work on the prototype coaches is expected to begin in the coming months. Only after the completion of the prototype will full-scale production of the sleeper coaches commence.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had earlier announced that testing of the Vande Bharat Express's sleeper coaches would be conducted within the next three months.

Currently, the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai is also working on producing sleeper coaches for the Vande Bharat Express.

At the Marathwada Coach Factory in Latur, which spans 351 acres, around 10,000 workers are employed to work with advanced machinery. The factory has been equipped with 11 modern assembly stations, alongside workshops for car body fabrication, bogie assembly, paint, and testing.

There is an 8.6-kilometer test track within the factory for testing the newly built coaches. Once the prototypes are completed, full production will begin, with the entire responsibility of manufacturing, maintenance, and repair resting with 'Kinet,' as per the contract," Abhishek Mishra, Public Relations Officer, Marathwada Coach Factory, Latur stated.

The Marathwada Coach Factory is an important step in India's bid to expand its railway infrastructure and modernize its train services, with sleeper coaches for the Vande Bharat Express marking a significant milestone.