Sudhanshu Mani shares lessons learnt from Vande Bharat project

Mani started his presentation with a quote — “Dream is not the thing you see in sleep, but it is a thing that doesn't let you sleep.” Then he focused on the concept of make in India which facilitates manufacturing in India.

He highlighted the importance of innovation, technology and its management. “Innovation is a mental construct, refined through analysis, incubation, cycle completing into practical reality. It can be in the form of a product, process or a business, activated in the real world and there is an outcome of value,” he said.

He pointed out that conversion of an innovation into a technology for a product or service is important. He quoted Maxwell from Integral Coach Factory, saying, “Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.”

Mani gave an example of the Vande Bharat Express which was earlier known as Train 18. He said that Train 18 was named after the train which was launched in 2018. He focused on the importance of the project and said, “The most important people in your life, besides your family are the people you work with.”

Mani said that ICF is the only carbon-negative unit of the Indian Railways. He added that the trains are not manufactured of the same type anymore. Vande Bharat Express is a train built for covering a distance of 500- to 750-km. The entire setup of the train was manufactured in India by Integral Coach Factory (ICF), in Chennai. Vande Bharat Express is built on the local train-based EMU technology with cost-optimisation.