Indian Railways to roll out 10 more engine-less ‘Train 18' series trains

New Delhi (Urban Transport News): After a successful speed trial test of the first engine-less train (train 18) for long-distance travel, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has asked Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai to expedite manufacturing of more such train sets.

In this regard, the Ministry of Railway has issued a circular to the ICF, Chennai and stated that the coach factory has to now manufacture more Train 18 sets in the current production year. In the earlier circular, ICF had the mandate to manufacture just one more Train 18 rake by March 2019.

The current circular demanding more Train 18 series trains from the ICF, Chennai was issued after conducting a meeting of the Railway Board on December 5, chaired by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and in the meeting, it was decided that “necessary action should be taken” for manufacturing of four more Train 18 rakes in the current production year.

In the recent Railway Board meeting, the Railway Board appreciated the success of “new indigenous train set (T-18)”. The Railway Board added in the new circular that necessary changes in the production programme of ICF will be communicated shortly. In the meantime, ICF  Chennai has been asked to start procuring material and also schedule the production activities to achieve the revised target by March 2019.

“ICF will try to make two more (Train 18 sets) in this financial year and up to 8 in the next financial year depending upon the allotment from Railway Board.  That takes the total number of Train 18 sets slated for production to 10", said Sudhanshu Mani, General Manager, ICF Chennai.

According to the plan of Indian Railways, Train 18 was envisioned to replace Shatabdi Express trains on the Railways network. In last month, Train 18 has successfully completed its trial test run at 180 km per hour by RDSO. The Train 18 has achieved the record of the fastest Train in Indian railways network.  During its trial test run on a section of the Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani route, Train 18 crossed 180 km per hour speed. This train broke the record of Gatimaan Express which operates at 160 km per hour.

The Train 18 was manufactured under the ‘Make in India’ initiative of Govt. of India. According to ICF Chennai, Train 18 has been manufactured  at the cost of Rs 100 crore, but the cost will come down as more rakes are made and economies of scale kick-in.