Ultra-High Speed plans
The Indian Railways (IR) is in the process of developing/adopting ultra-high speed technology to enhance the average speed of all trains and cut travel time to about 12 hours across the country.
Railways Minister Suresh Prabhakar during the inauguration of International Conference on Technology for Ultra High Speed Rolling Stocks on Sept 2, 2016 in New Delhi.
He said the Indian Railways wants to develop ultra-high speed technology and implement it under “Make in India” for domestic railway upgrading as well as for exports. It is looking at speed of 500 kmp/hour.
This conference was held just before the government calls for Expression of Interest tender for developing, constructing and running Ultra-High Speed Railway system in India on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis.
Following the EOI, Indian Railways is expected to sanction a ultra-high speed rail project.
The conference was attended by 500 delegates including executives from HyperLoop Transport Technology, USA, Quadralev USA, Talgo, Spain, RTRI Japan, Siemens Germany, Knorr Bremse, Germany, Prose Switzerland.
Technology for Ultra High Speed Rolling Stock
Current operating speeds are 110 to 150 KMPH in general. There is only one train i.e. Gatiman Express which runs at 160 KMPH between Delhi and Agra.
Indian Railways also producing in-house 200 KMPH fit rake based on LHB technology at Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala which is expected to be turned out before 31st October, 2016. Also, a high speed diesel multiple unit rake capable of running at 160 KMPH with potential upto 200 KMPH is under design and manufacture at ICF, Chennai. This rake will come out next year.
These efforts have so far been to achieve semi high speed i.e. 160 to 200 KMPH on Indian Railways. 9 corridors have been identified for semi high speed – Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Kanpur, Nagpur-Bilaspur, Mysore-Bangalore-Chennai, Mumbai-Goa, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Chennai-Hyderabad, Nagpur-Secunderabad.
There has also been a concept proving trial of Talgo type rakes which has been tested upto 180 KMPH on existing track. These exploration are also in the area of semi high speed.
IR have decided to built a high speed corridor based on Shinkansen technology of Japan between Ahmedabad to Mumbai with capable of running at 300 KMPH. Further, five feasibility studies are in progress for Mumbai-Delhi, Mumbai-Chennai, Delhi-Kolkata, Mumbai-Nagpur.
However, all developments on IR have so far been based on Transfer of Technology (ToT) and further improvisation and developments at local level. As a result there has always been a gap in Railway technology between the developed World and India.
Ministry of Railways have taken a visionary step to develop a ultra high speed railway technology capable of running upto at 500 KMPH and beyond. The example of ISRO is being followed for creating cutting edge technology in India to put a country amongst the leading nations of future Railway technology in the World.
Types of ultra-high speed technologies
Maglev – conventional Maglev design is based on repulsion technology which has been developed by Germany and used in China. Another type of repulsion based Maglev technology has been developed by Japan. South Korea is also working on similar concept.
Quadlev – this is ‘Attraction’ based Maglev technology at conceptual and lab test level, developed by Dr. James R. Powell of USA who is also one of the inventors of Maglev technology. This technology promises to transport both passengers and goods at much lower costs as compared to conventional Maglev.
Hyper Loop technology – This technology was originally conceived by Mr. Elon Reeve Musk, CEO – Tesla Motors. This consists of passenger or goods carrying capsule like vehicles travelling inside an evacuated concrete pipe. The capsule is suspended inside the tube using Maglev principles. This technology is still under development and concept proving. However, this has capacity to travel at speeds exceeding 1000 KMPH at much lesser energy consumption as compared to conventional trains.
Indian Railways have decided to join the global scientific and technical community involved in development of ultra high speed railway technology as a futuristic step. An Expression of Interest has been floated to build a development centre, a trial track of 15 km to be later extended to 250 to 500 KM distance on PPP basis. If a suitable technology is identified in this process, a project sanction will be considered for further development.
Present Conference is yet another step in this direction. Institute of Rolling Stock Engineers and Indian Railways Service of Mechanical Engineers Association have come together with the support of Indian Railways, RITES and KRCL to organize this first ever Conference of its type in India. fii-news.com
