In a bid to increase the speed of trains, the Indian Railways on Sunday, conducted the first round of a tri-phasal testing process of Spanish train Talgo, the lighter and faster car with speed up to 115 kmph that employes indigenous engines.
It plied between Bareilly and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. It left Bareilly at 9.05 am and, moving at speeds between 80 and 115 kmph, reached the destination at 10.15 am, which is 90 km in 1 hour and 10 minutes.
“It was a smooth ride,” said a senior railway officer after Talgo coaches were hauled by a 4,500 HP diesel engine on the 90 km line for the first trial run.
Following the Bareilly-Moradabad trail run, the coaches will be tested on the Mathura-Tundla route after June 12, before being sent on the Delhi/Mumbai route. Dates for the final trail have not been fixed yet.
The train coaches are lightweight and crafted in a way that it can run on curves without decelerating the speed, the official said.
The Talgo aluminium coaches were shipped from Barcelona and reached Mumbai Port on April 21.
Talgo attempts to reduce the journey time between Delhi and Mumbai to 12 hours from 17 hours. Besides 30 per cent less consumption of energy and coaches filled with sandbag add to its salient features.
‘There will be three more such runs before the success or failure could be assessed,’ said Hamid Akhtar, Executive Director of Railways’ Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) who was on the train on way back from Moradabad.
Tags: Indian railways Spanish train Talgo Talgo UP
