New Delhi: The Indian Railways will soon manufacture bullet trains capable of up to 250 kmph speed limit at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai, as part of the Modi government’s Make in India initiative. The decision was likely taken as a result of hurdles faced by Japanese suppliers such as Hitachi and Kawasaki.
These problems were related to pricing, according to officials. The ICF is expected to produce two 8-coach train sets with steel car bodies which will run on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor. The Rs 1.08 crore project aims to connect the capitals of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Made in India bullet train details
The Made in India bullet train is likely to be made on the Vande Bharat Express platform. To be sure, it is unclear whether the ICF can supply the trainsets within fiscal year 2024-25, the ET reported, citing officials.
Cost of bullet train
The bullet train’s cost has escalated to Rs 460 crore in 2023 from Rs 389 crore in 2018. However, the Indian Railways reportedly remained unconvinced about these prices, leading to the ICF order. To be sure, the bullet train project has overshot its 2022 deadline owing to hurdles related to land acquisition in Maharashtra.
While it is unclear when the ICF will be able to deliver the new train sets, Sudhanshu Mani, the Indian Railway official who was instrumental in the rollout of the first Vande Bharat Express train pegs the timeline for the rollout of the bullet train from ICF at 3-4 years.
Upcoming bullet train corridors in India
Last year, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that the Ahmedabad-Sanand bullet train corridor is likely to become operational soon. The Indian Railways also announced plans to launch a socio-economic survey for the Chandigarh-Amritsar high-speed railway corridor covering Delhi, Chandigarh, Ludhian, Jalandhar and Amritsar.
The Indian Railways has proposed to start seven high-speed railway corridors:
Delhi-Varanasi bullet train route
Mumbai-Nagpur bullet train route
Delhi-Ahmedabad bullet train route
Mumbai-Hyderabad bullet train route
Chennai-Bengaluru bullet train route
Varanasi-Howrah bullet train route
Delhi-Amritsar bullet train route
To be sure, none of these routes have been sanctioned as yet. The National High-Speed Rail Corp has been tasked with submitting the detailed project report ion the feasibility of these routes.
The Integral Coach Factory in Chennai is expected to build and roll out two 8-coach standard gauge trains capable of 220-250 kmph speeds with steel car bodies. Biz News Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
