New Delhi: ‘Made in India’ Train 18 is now the country’s fastest train. It recorded a top sustained speed of 181 kmph during a trial run.
Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal tweeted a video showing the trial run.
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
Built at a cost of Rs 100 crore, this self-propelled train doesn’t require a locomotive to pull it and is hence referred to as ‘engine-less’. It is fully air-conditioned and has been designed to replace Shatabdi Express trains. It is expected to save around 15 per cent time compared to Shatabdi trains. The aerodynamic shape lets it cut corners at higher speeds than traditional trains.
Like Shatabdis, it will have 14 AC Chair Car coaches and 2 Executive coaches. The executive coaches have 54 seats and the normal ones have 78 seats in each. It also has automatic sliding doors and footsteps – a first for Indian Railways. The footsteps draw out automatically at stations depending on the platform height.
The train has CCTV, GPS, on-board WiFi, auto climate control, LED lighting, mobile charging points and bio vacuum toilets.
Also Read: Vandals Target Train 18, India’s Fastest
Though the train is capable of 200 kmph, the tracks and other infrastructure currently do not support such high speeds, sources said.
Train 18 is expected to make its debut as the new Varanasi-Delhi Shatabdi Express on December 29.
