The common man’s high speed train that has the performance level of Vande Bharat will be launched in October, said BG Mallya, General Manager, Integral Coach Factory.
The genesis of these trains stemmed from the thought that while the rich people have Vande Bharat, what does the common man have? “We are producing a non-AC train with all the 22 coaches with a loco in the front and one in the rear end and which have the same performance level of Vande Bharat. However, the maximum speed will be 130 kmph. Beyond that speed, the noise and dust level are so high that a shield would be required. This means AC should be provided, he said.
“This is going to happen in October, and we will have the common man’s high speed train,” he said.
Mallya was speaking at a discussion on the theme ‘Manufacturing Excellence — The Vande Bharat Story — organised by the Chennai International Centre. S Anantharaman, Principal Chief Operations Manager, Southern Railway (Retired), moderated the discussion.
Vande freight
On the Vande freight, Mallya said ICF has started working on it. The car bodies have already been produced. “We should be producing a Vande freight train this year with a maximum speed of 130 kmph. It will be used for transporting e-commerce items, perishables and electronics kinds of traffic,” he said.
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Mallya said, except in the North-East, Vande Bharat trains are running in all the other 24 States covering a total of 11,000 km. The reason why Vande Bharat is not there in the North-East is because the lines there are not electrified. The day it is electrified, Vande Bharat will be there, he said.
Vande Bharat’s success has shown to the world that India can also produce semi-high speed trains at an affordable cost. “We have been getting enquiries from countries like Chile where they have a different voltage system but the same gauge,” he said.