Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Parliament that the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, in collaboration with BEML, is designing and manufacturing high-speed train sets that will have a design speed of 280 kmph.
Indian Railways to Manufacture High-Speed Train Sets with Advanced Features Under ‘Make in India’
Following the success of Vande Bharat trains under the “Make in India” initiative, the minister said that the Indian Railways (IR) has now taken up designing and manufacturing of high-speed train sets.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs Sudhir Gupta and Ananta Nayak said that “The manufacturing cost is approximately Rs 28 crore per car (excluding taxes), which is highly competitive compared with other train sets”.
The Minister further added that the design as well as manufacturing of these high-speed train sets is a complex and technology-intensive process.
He further highlighted the major technical aspects such as the design as well as manufacturing of the aerodynamic, airtight car body, design and manufacturing of electrics including propulsion for high-speed application, weight optimisation of the train sets and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) of the trains.
He said that “The train sets will have chair cars with best-in-class features, such as aerodynamic exteriors, sealed gangways, automatic doors, optimum climatic conditions inside compartments for passenger comfort, CCTV, mobile-charging facilities, optimum lighting, fire safety equipment etc”.
Progress Update on Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Project, Undersea Tunnel Work Begins
Further, he added that after the finalisation of the detailed design, the project completion could be reasonably ascertained post the finalisation of detailed design.
On the other hand, he also provided an update on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project, under execution with technical and financial assistance from Japan, and said so far, 336 km of pier foundation, 331 km of pier construction, 260 km of girder casting and 225 km of girder launching have been completed.
He added that “The work of the undersea tunnel (approximately 21 km) has also started”.
The 508-km-long MAHSR project will have 12 stations planned at Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati and the entire land (1,389.5 Ha) required for it has been acquired, the railway minister said.
