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Indian Railways picks speed on bullet train manufacturing! India is advancing towards domestic manufacturing of bullet trains and associated signalling systems for future standard gauge high-speed corridors, according to senior government officials. The implementation of significant infrastructure projects, including the bullet train initiative, is expected to accelerate in Maharashtra following recent election results.
The planned indigenous high-speed trains will be developed from the current Vande Bharat platform. The signalling systems for these corridors will facilitate the development of Kavach 5.0, representing the most sophisticated automatic train protection technology.
“Work on the bullet train corridor in Maharashtra picked up pace after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government took charge. Entire land acquisition is complete and over 320-kilometres of the physical infrastructure work is ready,” the official said.
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Regarding future high-speed corridors, the official told ET that insights from the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project will be valuable. “India is now capable to single-handedly take up this project in more corridors. We should have our own trains in future corridors as well,” he said.
“India wants to become fully capable of making bullet trains that can touch speeds of up to 280 kilometres per hour (kmph) and average at 250 kmph operational speed,” a second official said.
Regarding India’s indigenous bullet train development strategy, the second official explained, “There will be incremental improvement in Bogies (suspension systems). But power train and body will require significant development. They will take around three years to be ready.”
Addressing questions about the future of Shinkansen suppliers, the second official clarified, “We do not want to stop Japanese collaboration. Negotiation is ongoing regarding the supply deal for these modern trains that will run on the MAHSR corridor.”
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The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) manifesto included plans to initiate feasibility studies for Bullet Train Corridors across North, South and East India.
The MAHSR corridor’s civil works are 50% complete. The Railway Board has commissioned Integral Coach Factory (ICF) to produce bullet trains capable of 280 kmph speeds. BEML has been engaged by the railway production unit to manufacture these trains for Rs 866.87 crore.
BEML has set the price at Rs 27.86 crore per coach. The contract value includes design expenses, development costs, non-recurring charges, and expenditure for jigs, fixtures, tooling and testing facilities.
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