India’s fastest prototype Train 18 not fully made in India -Governance Now

India’s fastest prototype Train 18 not fully made in India

Train 18, which is hailed as a Make in India project, uses foreign-made components like aircraft-like seats and sliding doors

Vishwas Dass | December 7, 2018 | Delhi

#Integral Coach Factory #Indian Railways #Make in India #Train 18 #fastest train

Photo: Twitter/ManiSudhanshu58

The much talked-about Train 18 of the Indian Railways, which recently breached 180 kmph speed limit in the trials, has 20 percent of its components being imported from foreign countries.

Although the train is seen as the finest example of technical prowess of the Indian Railways’ coaching factory, not all of its components are made in India.

Train 18 is a semi-high speed trainset, which includes a group of coupled coaches that are individually powered by a propulsion system. In other words it is a locomotive-less train.

The first Train 18 prototype was recently rolled out by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai of Indian Railways. It is going through multiple tests to assess technical parametres and fix them before it is finally commissioned by the railways in January next year.

ICF general manager Sudhanshu Mani told Governance Now that 80 percent of the equipment and components of Train 18 were made in India but remaining 20 percent such as aircraft-like seats were brought from Spain and China. Sliding doors and plug doors were also imported from Germany and Czech Republic, he said.

“To my surprise, no one makes aircraft-like seats in India but from third rake onwards we will try to make it in India or will have collaboration with someone,” he said.

Mani said that a part of the pantry equipment was also imported for four coaches, and the remaining would be made under collaboration in India. The vacuum toilets were imported for the first prototype Train 18 but for the next rakes it would be made indigenous, he added. The second rake of Train 18 would be rolled out in February 2019, he said.

The general manager of India’s biggest coach factory said that Train 18 was conceived, designed, engineered, built and tested by the ICF.

Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani had flagged off the Train 18 prototype on October 29 in Chennai and praised the manufacturing unit for coming up with so many sophisticated features, a conventional train has never seen in the past.

The 16 coaches-long Train 19 will have the same passenger carrying capacity as that of the Shatabdi Express. Train 18 possesses aerodynamically designed driver cabins at both ends for quicker turn-around at destinations and it sports an advanced regenerative braking system to save electricity.

The fully air-conditioned train offers better passenger comfort and safety, as all equipment are fixed under the carriage, so that more space is available on board, officials said.

Comments

Other News

Modi’s forward-looking I-Day speech lays down 5-year agenda

Contrast prime minister Narendra Modi’s first Independence Day speech in 2014 with his latest, the first in the second term, and you know the difference. His first speech was less about future and much about the basic needs like Swachch Bharat (clean India). His speech on Thursday, on the other hand,

Better cities require active citizen engagement

With Mumbai city battling myriad civic issues and annual flooding year after year, stakeholders and experts came together to discuss ways of dealing with these issues as community work. The discussion was held at the TEDxVersova Salon- Vibrant Civic Participation, an independent TED event organized by the

Independence Day: PM underlines new beginnings

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort for the first in his second term, prime minister Narendra Modi highlighted the new beginnings his government has made in recent days, and underlined the hopes of a new India in the making. “Things that could not happen in the past

Kashmir decision “sole prerogative of the country”

India has told China that the legislation changing the status of Jammu and Kashmir was “an internal matter. External affairs minister S Jaishankar, visiting China Monday, told foreign minister Wang Yi that the legislative measures were aimed at promoting better governance and socio-ec

To fight climate change, pay attention also to land

When considering climate change, one of the greatest threats before the humanity, discussions usually focus on air and water, but land too is affected by and in turn affects global warming as much as those two elements. A new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), out early Augus

Mumbai witnesses jump in bus ridership after fare cut

To revive bus ridership, the BMC-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) reduced its bus fares in Mumbai to minimum Rs 5 for non-AC buses as against Rs 8 earlier for the first five kilometres and capped maximum fare at Rs 20. For its AC buses the minimum fare has been brought down from Rs 20

Current Issue

Video

Opinion

Twitter

Tweets by @governancenow