Vande Bharat Express Train Routes, Timings & Travel Guide

Vande Bharat Express is India’s semi-high-speed train, built for 180 km/h and run at up to 160 km/h. As of November 2026 there are 84 Vande Bharat routes: 81 daytime Chair Car routes and 3 overnight Vande Bharat Sleeper routes, running 168 train services between cities in 23 states and union territories. This guide shows every Vande Bharat train with its real stations, timings in both directions, IRCTC fares, booking rules and the tools you need to plan the trip.

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Most used Vande Bharat tools

See all 17 Vande Bharat tools

All 168 Vande Bharat trains have a checked timetable here: 1,368 scheduled stops at 413 stations, each timetable checked stop by stop against two independent sources. Every train has its own page with every stop, and the Vande Bharat train timings page lists them all in one table. New to the train? Start with what Vande Bharat Express is.

Search above by city, station code or train number. Typing “Mumbai Goa”, “Kolkata” or “22436” works, and so do intermediate stops such as “Bhubaneswar” or “Surat”.

Quick links: Train timings · Ticket price · Seat map · Time table by train number · Refund calculator · Tatkal time · All tools · Check running status

Vande Bharat Express at a glance

Routes (train pairs) 81 Chair Car + 3 Sleeper = 84
Train services 168 (each direction counted once): 162 Chair Car, 6 Sleeper
Checked timetables All 168 trains: 1,368 scheduled stops at 413 stations
Running days 158 trains run six days a week; 10 run only on certain days; none runs daily
Classes CC and EC seats on Chair Car trains; 3A, 2A and 1A berths on Sleeper trains
Top speed Designed for 180 km/h, operated at up to 160 km/h
Typical fare, full route with meal ₹1,385 to ₹1,835 in CC; ₹2,505 to ₹3,385 in EC
Booking opens 60 days before, at 08:00 IST
Tatkal CC and EC at 10:00 IST, one day before; no Tatkal on Sleeper
Food Optional on Chair Car, chosen at booking; included in the Sleeper fare
Dynamic fare None: the price does not rise as seats fill up

Counts are from the Ministry of Railways list of July 2026 plus the two Sleeper routes that started in November 2026. Timetables and running days were checked on 11 November 2026 against two independent sources, ConfirmTkt and erail.in (RailYatri in place of erail.in for three trains). Fares are from IRCTC’s fare enquiry on 11 November 2026.

These are the most searched Vande Bharat Express routes. Each has its own guide with the full stop list in both directions, fares with and without meals, and boarding tips.

Route Train Departs → Arrives Journey Not on CC fare
Howrah – Puri 22895 06:10 → 13:00 6 h 50 min Thursday ₹1,485
Mumbai CSMT – Madgaon (Goa) 22229 05:25 → 13:10 7 h 45 min Friday ₹1,625
Mumbai Central – Ahmedabad 22961 15:45 → 21:15 5 h 30 min Sunday ₹1,385
Howrah – New Jalpaiguri 22301 05:55 → 13:30 7 h 35 min Wednesday ₹1,585
New Delhi – Varanasi 22436 06:00 → 14:00 8 h Thursday ₹1,835
New Delhi – Varanasi 22416 15:00 → 23:05 8 h 5 min Tuesday ₹1,770
Chennai Central – Coimbatore 20643 14:15 → 20:15 6 h Wednesday ₹1,385

CC fares are for one adult over the full route, with a meal. Every train in this table also runs in the opposite direction; the route guides show both, and each train number opens that train’s full time table.

Most Vande Bharat trains follow the same pattern: out from one city in the morning and back in the afternoon, six days a week, with one day off that differs by train. That makes many of them good for a same-day return trip. Of the 168 trains, 158 run six days a week and the other 10 run only on certain days; Tuesday is the most common day off, for 56 trains. Try the same-day return planner, which found, for example, 3 hours 15 minutes in Ahmedabad on a Mumbai day trip with 20901 and 20902.

See all 84 Vande Bharat routes by state → · See timings of all 168 Vande Bharat trains →

Vande Bharat trains from your city

Vande Bharat routes are spread across the country, but a few cities have several. Counting routes that start or end there:

Always check the actual station. A city search finds every Vande Bharat that serves the city, but the train only uses its own station. “Goa” means Madgaon (MAO) and “Kolkata” means Howrah (HWH). Varanasi has two Vande Bharat stations: the Delhi trains use Varanasi Jn (BSB), and the Agra Cantt (20175/20176) and Khajuraho (26505/26506) trains use Banaras (BNRS).

Vande Bharat Sleeper trains

The Vande Bharat Sleeper is the overnight version, with berths instead of seats. Six Vande Bharat Sleeper trains run as of November 2026, in three pairs:

Route Trains Overnight timing Distance
New Delhi – Varanasi 27422 / 27421 21:40 → 07:10 758 km
Mumbai CSMT – SMVT Bengaluru 27651 / 27652 20:10 → 12:00 1,114 km
Howrah – Kamakhya 27575 / 27576 18:20 → 08:20 966 km

The Sleeper has its own rules, and they are stricter than the Chair Car’s:

Read the Vande Bharat Sleeper guide, or price any stretch with the Sleeper fare calculator.

Vande Bharat ticket price

A Vande Bharat Chair Car ticket is the base fare plus a reservation charge, a superfast charge, GST and, if you choose it, a meal. Here is IRCTC’s breakdown for Howrah to Puri in CC: base fare ₹983, reservation ₹40, superfast ₹45, GST ₹54 and meal ₹363, a total of ₹1,485. Choosing No Food brings it down to ₹1,122.

Route CC with meal CC no food EC with meal
Howrah – Puri ₹1,485 ₹1,122 ₹2,665
Mumbai CSMT – Madgaon ₹1,625 ₹1,469 ₹3,145
Mumbai Central – Ahmedabad ₹1,385 ₹1,078 ₹2,505
New Delhi – Varanasi (22436) ₹1,835 ₹1,472 ₹3,385

Three things are worth knowing about Vande Bharat fares:

  1. There is no dynamic fare. The Ministry of Railways has said it has no plan to bring dynamic pricing to Vande Bharat, and IRCTC showed ₹0 dynamic fare on every train we checked. The price is the same whether you book early or late.
  2. The base fare is higher than Shatabdi, about 1.4 times in CC. Yet on Howrah–Puri the Shatabdi’s own dynamic fare made it cost ₹1,410 against ₹1,485 for Vande Bharat, which is over an hour faster. See Vande Bharat vs Shatabdi.
  3. The meal is a big part of the price: ₹156 to ₹433 per person depending on the train and class.

Work out your own fare with the Vande Bharat fare calculator, or read how Vande Bharat ticket prices work.

CC vs EC: which class to book

Vande Bharat Chair Car trains have two classes:

EC costs about 1.8 to 1.9 times the CC fare. On 11 November 2026, EC waiting lists were much shorter than CC on the trains we looked at (Mumbai–Goa EC was already closed for one date), so EC is worth checking when CC is full. A train has 8, 16 or 20 coaches, with one or two EC coaches.

No official seat-numbering diagram exists for Vande Bharat coaches, so a window seat can never be guaranteed. See the Vande Bharat seat map and the full CC vs EC comparison.

How to book a Vande Bharat ticket

Vande Bharat tickets are booked on IRCTC like any other reserved train:

  1. Find your train and date. Use the search above or the trains between stations tool, and check it runs that day with the running days checker.
  2. Book when booking opens: 60 days before the journey, at 08:00 IST. The booking date calculator gives the exact date.
  3. On IRCTC, enter your stations and date, pick CC or EC on the Vande Bharat, and add passengers.
  4. Choose a meal or No Food, then review and pay.

Popular Vande Bharat trains fill up early. On 11 November 2026, trains just two to four days away had CC waiting lists of about 50 to 160 on Howrah–Puri, Mumbai–Goa, Mumbai–Ahmedabad and Delhi–Varanasi. If you miss general booking, Tatkal opens at 10:00 IST the day before for CC and EC, and costs about ₹236 extra in CC and ₹525 in EC on a full-length trip.

Read the step-by-step booking guide, the Tatkal guide and the waiting list guide.

Cancellation and refund rules

You cancel a confirmed ticket Chair Car (CC, EC) Sleeper
More than 72 hours before departure Flat ₹180 + GST (₹189) in CC, ₹240 + GST (₹252) in EC 25% of the fare
72 to 24 hours before 25% of the fare 50% of the fare
24 to 8 hours before 50% of the fare 50% of the fare
Less than 8 hours before No refund No refund

These bands were announced in March 2026; IRCTC’s published rules still show 48, 12 and 4 hours, so the IRCTC cancellation screen is final.

A waitlisted Chair Car ticket costs only ₹60 + GST (₹63) clerkage to cancel, and if it is still waitlisted when the chart is made it is cancelled and refunded automatically. A confirmed Tatkal ticket gets no refund. If the railway cancels your train, you get a full refund.

Before you cancel, check whether you can change the boarding station instead: it can be done once, online, up to about 30 minutes before departure. An e-ticket’s date cannot be changed. Read the refund rules and the ticket change guide, or use the refund calculator and the cancellation deadline tool to see the exact clock times for your train.

Food on Vande Bharat

On Chair Car trains the meal is optional. You choose it or No Food when booking, and the price is added to the fare. Changed your mind? Add a meal later on IRCTC under Booked Ticket History → Opt Meal, or buy ready-to-eat food on board until 9 pm. IRCTC publishes the menu for each train. On Sleeper trains, food is included. See the food guide and the food cost calculator.

Fastest Vande Bharat trains

Ranked by average scheduled speed over the whole journey, stops included, across all 168 Vande Bharat trains:

Train Route Distance Time Average
22229 Mumbai CSMT → Madgaon 765 km 7 h 45 min 98.7 km/h
22230 Madgaon → Mumbai CSMT 765 km 7 h 50 min 97.7 km/h
22435 Varanasi → New Delhi 771 km 8 h 96.4 km/h
22436 New Delhi → Varanasi 771 km 8 h 96.4 km/h
20645 Madgaon → Mangaluru Central 437 km 4 h 35 min 95.3 km/h
22415 Varanasi → New Delhi 760 km 8 h 5 min 94.0 km/h
22416 New Delhi → Varanasi 760 km 8 h 5 min 94.0 km/h

Average speed is well below the 160 km/h top speed because it includes stops, slower sections and station approaches. Across all 162 Vande Bharat Express Chair Car trains the average is 72.5 km/h, and the slowest, 26502 Gorakhpur to Patliputra, averages 54.2 km/h. Between two stops the train goes much faster: 22229 covers the 156 km from Ratnagiri to Kankavali in 72 minutes, about 130 km/h. The fastest Sleeper is 27421 Varanasi to New Delhi, at 81.2 km/h. See the full speed ranking and the fastest routes guide.

On the day of travel

Read the PNR and running status guide.

Free Vande Bharat tools

We built 17 free tools on the same checked timetables and fares:

Vande Bharat Express FAQs

How many Vande Bharat trains are there in India? 84 routes as of November 2026: 81 Chair Car and 3 Sleeper. That is 168 train services, counting each direction separately: 162 Chair Car trains and 6 Sleeper trains. The Ministry of Railways reported 81 Chair Car pairs on 23 July 2026; the Delhi–Varanasi and Mumbai–Bengaluru Sleepers started in November 2026. All 168 are in our Vande Bharat train timings list.

Does Vande Bharat have a sleeper class? Yes, on the Vande Bharat Sleeper, which has 3A, 2A and 1A berths. Six Sleeper trains run overnight on three routes: New Delhi–Varanasi (27421/27422), Mumbai CSMT–SMVT Bengaluru (27651/27652) and Howrah–Kamakhya (27575/27576). The daytime Vande Bharat Express has seats only, in CC and EC.

Which was the first Vande Bharat Express? New Delhi to Varanasi. The first Vande Bharat Express, built by ICF Chennai in 18 months, was flagged off on 15 February 2019 on this route, now run as 22435/22436 alongside a second Chair Car pair and an overnight Sleeper. Source: PIB · Vande Bharat history

Is Vande Bharat running every day? No Vande Bharat train runs every day. 158 of the 168 run six days a week, and the day off differs by train; Tuesday is the most common. The other 10 run only on certain days of the week. Check your date with the running days checker.

What is the ticket price of Vande Bharat Express? About ₹1,385 to ₹1,835 in CC and ₹2,505 to ₹3,385 in EC for a full journey of 490 to 770 km, including a meal. Choosing No Food is cheaper.

Is food included in the Vande Bharat ticket? On Chair Car trains only if you choose a meal while booking. On Sleeper trains food is included in the fare.

Is there Tatkal on Vande Bharat? Yes, in CC and EC on Chair Car trains, opening at 10:00 IST the day before. There is no Tatkal on the Vande Bharat Sleeper.

Is Vande Bharat 2 seater or 3 seater? Both. CC has 3 seats on one side of the aisle and 2 on the other. EC has 2 on each side.

How fast is the Vande Bharat train? Designed for 180 km/h and operated at up to 160 km/h where the track allows. Including stops, the fastest average across all 168 trains is 98.7 km/h, on Mumbai CSMT–Madgaon (22229), and the Chair Car average is 72.5 km/h. The Ministry of Railways gives 0 to 100 km/h in about 52 seconds (PIB, September 2022). More in what Vande Bharat Express is and Vande Bharat speed.

Is there a senior citizen concession on Vande Bharat? No. There is no fare concession on Vande Bharat trains. The Sleeper gives lower berths automatically, where available, to men aged 60+ and women aged 45+. See concessions and quotas.

Can I cancel a Vande Bharat ticket and get a refund? Yes. On Chair Car, cancelling more than 72 hours before costs ₹180 in CC or ₹240 in EC, plus GST (₹189 / ₹252); closer to departure you lose more. The Sleeper always deducts at least 25%. Use the refund calculator.

How we check this guide

This is an independent guide, not Indian Railways or IRCTC. All 168 Vande Bharat train timetables here are checked stop by stop against two independent sources: a train is added only when both agree on every station, time, day and running day, and on every distance to within 1 km. Every fare comes from IRCTC’s own fare enquiry. Rules come from Railway Board circulars and Ministry of Railways statements, and each page shows when it was last checked. Train counts and top speeds are from the Ministry of Railways via PIB; average speeds are worked out from our checked timetables as distance divided by scheduled journey time. For live status, availability and booking, always use NTES and IRCTC. Read our editorial policy, see recent updates, and report a correction if you spot one.