Talgo's coaches are all set to begin speed trials from July 7, a development that takes India closer to its dreams of having semi-high speed and high speed trains.
Talgo’s coaches are all set to begin speed trials from July 7, a development that takes India closer to its dreams of having semi-high speed and high speed trains. Suresh Prabhu-led Indian Railways is conducting trial runs with Talgo train coaches, which the Spanish company claims can help Railways attain higher speeds, even on the existing tracks.
Sources told FE Online that the coaches will be tried for speeds up to 180 kmph. “The speed trials which will begin on July 7, will continue till the end of July,” sources added. The trial will take place on the Mathura-Palwal route.
Indian Railways’ Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO) has already been testing the coaches for safety and stability. Asked about whether the initial trials have been successful, an RDSO official told FE Online, “The report is under preparation with analysis of various technical data and technical aspects. The preliminary results appear OK. However, it would be inappropriate to comment anything on the results till the report is final.”
The nine-coach Talgo train consists of two Executive Class cars, four Chair Cars, a cafeteria, a power car and a tail-end coach for staff and equipment.
Talgo’s coaches are said to weigh much less than an average Indian Railways coach, and that is what the company claims will help it run trains at a higher speed. They also consume 30% less energy, the Spanish company says.
India’s bullet train dreams seem to be on a fast track to being realised in some years. If a feasibility study, conducted by a Spanish firm, is anything to go by, then the travel time between Delhi and Kolkata may actually come down to less than five hours!
Multiple reports suggest that the feasibility study, which is being undertaken for the 1513 km long Delhi-Kolkata high speed corridor along with two other routes of the Diamond Quadrilateral project, has projected the travel time between Delhi and Kolkata to be as less as five hours.
Not only that, the train travel time between Delhi and Varanasi will be reduced to as little as 2 hours 45 minutes, suggest reports about the study.
Meanwhile, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that setting up of a high speed railway line on the Delhi-Chandigarh is in “preliminary-planning”. “Mumbai-Ahmedabad will be the first in the series. Later on Delhi to Chennai HSR, we want to take up. We had talks with a foreign company for this route, on which work would first be taken up on Delhi-Nagpur and then Nagpur to Chennai stretch,” Prabhu said.
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