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| Unlike the ultra-expensive bullet train, Talgo offers a realistic alternative and promises to run on the existing infrastructure. *video below) |
May 29, 2016, NewsCrunch
TV channels are claiming that India has taken a step closer to bullet train with the starting of the trials of the Talgo, a made in Spain train.
Talgo, a high-speed train, can hope to clock a maximum speed of 180 km per hour on Indian tracks.
That is, it would run at roughly a little over half the speed of the Japanese bullet train, which achieves an operational speed of 320 km per hour. Talgo is more likely to achieve the current speed of India's fastest train, the Gatiman Express.
The bullet train project is on a separate track and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu hope to flag off the first train by 2013.
But unlike the ultra-expensive bullet train, Talgo offers a realistic alternative and promises to run on the existing infrastructure.
The Indian railways have started a three-phase trial of Talgo at Bareilly-Moradabad, Mathura-Palwal and Delhi-Mumbai routes.
Nine Talgo coaches filled with sand bags are being hauled by a 4,500 HP diesel engine in the first leg of the trial on the Bareilly-Moradabad route.
The Delhi-Mumbai route would be covered at 125 km per hour about 40 km per hour faster than the Rajdhani. It would bring down the travel time between the two cities from 17 to 12 hours, reports The Hindustan Times.
Talgo comes with light weight aerodynamic coaches, which are cheaper to manufacture.
They are said to cost about Rs 1.7 crore per coach while the average cost of manufacturing the current LHB coaches is around Rs 2.75 crore per unit, reports India Today.
Talgo also needs about 30 per cent less electricity as compared to the trains being used in India.