Train 18 launch date deferred, may launch in January first week

New Delhi (Urban Transport News): The launch date of India's fastest engineless semi high-speed train 18 is deferred from 29th December to an undefined date due to the incompleteness of procedures for launching a new train in India for revenue service.

The Train 18 has received the safety clearance from the chief commissioner of railway safety (CCRS) to run at a speed of 160 km per hour. The
CCRS recommended certain precautionary measures such as fencing and regular greasing of all the curves on the route, after the safety inspection of the new 16-coach train during speed trial between Safdarjung railway station and Agra Cantt.

Before sending the file to Prime Minister’s Office for its approval for the schedule of the train’s launch, Railway Board's approval is required. The other reasons for delaying launch are congested route, dense fog and long journey hours between the New Delhi and Varanasi.

“We have all the clearances but the procedure will take time and commercial operations of the train are not possible in 2018. ... the train will change the face of the Indian Railways as it will be the fastest train of the nation’s biggest transporter. The finalization of the route is an issue since we have to keep passengers’ comfort also in mind considering people might not want to sit for eight hours,” said a railway official to HT on condition of anonymity.

"The Train 18’s journey from Delhi and Varanasi will be at least eight-hour-long. It might be too long for a chair car journey that it is going to be", the official added.

It was expected that Train 18 will start run from December 25 to mark the birthday of former Prime Minister of India and Bharat Ratna Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It is now likely to begin its commercial operations from January’s first week from New Delhi.

It is pertinent to mention here that the fare of the Train 18 also not yet finalised by the Indian Railways. It is expected that the fares of Train 18 are likely to keep the fare slightly higher than the Shatabdi trains.

On December 26, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed through his twitter handle that the Train 18 is declared as the fastest train of India.

Need for Speed: Train 18 seen cruising at a sustained 180Km/h, officially becoming the fastest train in India pic.twitter.com/2VNF1U3qrl

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) December 26, 2018

According to Sources, the Indian Railways will roll out five trains with 16 coaches and the ICF Chennai has been directed to manufacture more four train in this financial year. However, plan for the running of more trains will be finalized after the train’s launch.

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