Chennai: The indigenously-built Train 18 will complete its trial run in two months, sources from the ICF revealed.
On 18 November, the train completed its first trial run between Moradabad-Rampur section of the Northern Indian Railways.
According to sources, the trial run was initially assigned to cover the Moradabad-Bareilly section but some blockage on this stretch forced the railway authorities to change the trial track to Moradabad-Rampur section at the last moment.
Reports reveal that the train was made to run at three different speeds of 30 km/hr, 50 km/hr and 60 km/hr respectively to monitor various conditions such as acceleration and deceleration, jerkiness of the coaches, speed, comfort, to name a few.
One source from the ICF said that railway officials were present inside the train to monitor various factors.
A senior official from ICF said that the factory is capable to manufacture more high speed trains. “But it is also necessary to have better tracks,” the official said.
“The maintenance of tracks and its construction comes under the Indian Railways. We hope that they soon improve. It will help us build higher speed trains,” he said.
| AT A GLANCE |
| * Train 18 costs – Rs 100 crore * Max speed – 160 km/hr. * Seating capacity – 1,128 passengers * Coaches – 16 * Features – WiFi, plush interiors, bio-vacuum toilets, disabled-friendly toilets, GPS system, automated sliding doors and sliding footsteps, CCTVs, emergency talk back units |