Date of Post: 03 Dec, 2018

New Delhi: India’s first indigenously developed semi-high speed train, known as Train 18, breached the 180 kmph speed limit during a test run on Sunday, a senior railway official said. Manufactured at Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai, when this Rs 100-crore train is made operational, it will become the country’s fastest train.

जोर स्पीड का झटका धीरे से लगा: Train 18 exceeds 180kmph during trial. The stability of water bottles at this speed is testament to the quality of workmanship and design of our engineers pic.twitter.com/CImC49ljgm

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) December 2, 2018

More Information:

• Sudhanshu Mani, General Manager of ICF, said,”Train 18 breached the 180 kmph speed limit in the Kota-Sawai Madhopur section. The major trials are now over, with just some more remaining. Based on the reports, fine tuning would be done if needed. As of now no major technical problem has cropped up.”
• He added,”We expect Train 18 to commence its commercial run from January 2019. Normally the trials take three months. But now it is happening faster than expected.”
• If all things go well, Train 18 will replace the current Shatabdi Express.
• Officials said that the Train 18 is capable of touching 200 kmph provided the rest of Indian Railways’ system such as tracks and signals permit.
• The ICF will roll out 1 more Train 18 this fiscal and 4 by the next fiscal.
• On October 29, the high-tech, energy-efficient, self-propelled (engine-less) train was flagged off in Delhi by Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani.
• With 16 coaches, the train will have the same passenger carrying capacity as that of the Shatabdi Express.
• It has aerodynamically designed driver cabins at both ends for quicker turn-around at destinations.
• The train sports an advanced regenerative braking system which saves power.
• Officials said that 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.

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Author:

Narinder Sharma is a part of the content team of Rail Analysis India as a writer and marketing executive.
His interest is in the Railways , Metro and Transportation Sector of India .
Please reach us at editor@railanalysis.com for more information .